Gods of War
by AsmodeusCain
Summary: We all know how the story happened. But that's not the only way it could have been. Every once in a while, there are shatter points in history - instances when things could have went one way or another. Follow the story of the three pirate brothers as the road turns, allowing them to stay together and become the three greatest pirates the world will ever know!
1. Chapter 1

**So, before I start this off, here are the two changes I've made to continuity before this event. First, Luffy never ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gum-Gum Fruit), and second, when the boys were making their tree-fort, they found something in the tree they chose for said tree-fort.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I honestly don't know why we have to do this every time we post anything, but, I guess we do. Although it seems highly unlikely that Oda is going to pop down from his 20-story skyscraper, look at any specific piece of fanfic, and go, "You damn plagiarist!" But since we can't risk that, I own nothing.**

Speech – "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

_Thoughts – 'I'm going to be the Pirate King!'_

**Technique – "Gomu Gomu no…Mushi!" (Gum-Gum Whip)**

**_Letters/Notes/Anything written – 'Welcome to Saobody Archipelago!'_**

**If I come up with any other specific bold/**_italic_** combinations for some other crap, I'll post it before the chapter I use it.**

**Anyway, this is going to be a sort of prologue, so, let's get on with the show! Oh, and before I forget, I'm going to start this 10 years before the start of the series, then we timeskip to the start. Kay? Kay. Ikimashou! Or "Allons-y!" as the Doctor would say. Speaking of which, anybody else hoping for Charles Dance as the new Master?**

**Zoro: Oi, get on with the story!**

**Right, right. Welcome to the prologue of…Gods of War!**

Luffy sat on a thick branch and gazed curiously at the tree hollow, wondering who had gone to the trouble of climbing so high up just to deposit a note and some fruit.

"Oi, Ace, Sabo! C'mere, I found something weird!" he called down to his toiling brothers.

Ace and Sabo shared a glance, before Sabo shrugged and began to climb the tall oak, Ace following his lead while muttering about lazy, stupid younger brothers.

"What did you find?" Ace asked wearily, having reached Luffy and Sabo "And is it really important enough to distract us from our work?"

Luffy stuck his tongue out. "There's a letter in here, and some strange fruit! Do you think they're tasty? I'm hungry. Let's get lunch!"

Sabo lightly bopped the Straw hat clad boy on the head, before reaching out and taking the note. "Let's read the note; maybe it'll have some info on what these weird fruit are."

Ace signified agreement with a defeated sigh, and the three mischief-makers settled down on the branch to read the mysterious note.

**_"Dear reader or readers,_**

**_If you have found this letter, then you must've surely found the three Akuma no Mi (Devil Fruits) that have been hidden along with it."_**

Here, the three brothers simultaneously turned to look at the three fruits, as understanding dawned on Sabo and Ace.

"Hey, what's a Devil Fruit?" the youngest of the trio asked.

"It's a very powerful fruit that gives whoever consumes it power, in exchange for taking away their ability to swim." Sabo explained to his sibling.

"Oh. How does it work? And why does it take away the ability to swim?" Luffy asked.

"If we knew that, don't you think we would've made our own or something by now?" a slightly irate Ace replied, wanting to read the rest of the letter.

"Oh. So it's a mystery fruit!" Luffy stated, with an air of one who has achieved divine knowledge.

"…Sure, let's go with that." Sabo agreed, turning to read the note.

**_"These fruits were used by my brothers and I to sail through almost all of the Grand Line, but now we face our greatest battle, against the mightiest enemy we have ever come across – all three Admirals at once, along with seven Vice Admirals. We do not expect to come out of this battle alive, so I write this letter on the eve of our doom so as to instruct the future wielders of our Akuma no Mi in the basics of their power. I have entrusted this note to my First Mate, Monkey D. Zernier, who will collect our Akuma no Mi once we have died and take them along with this missive back to his homeland to hide."_**

Ace and Sabo stopped reading to look at Luffy, who was innocently picking his nose.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Why didn't you tell us your ancestor was a pirate?!" the older brothers screamed in tandem, as they concurrently smashed their dumber brother in the head, almost causing him to fall off the branch they were sitting on.

"Owowowowowow!" the boy screamed in pain. "I didn't know! I didn't even know I had an ancestor named Zernier!"

The response mollified Sabo, while Ace just threw another dirty look in Luffy's direction, this time disgusted that the boy didn't even know his own ancestry.

**_"To those who are reading this, I will now explain the basics of these three most dangerous fruits. These are Mythical Zoan types, and their names are Hito Hito no Mi: Moderu Susanōo (Human-Human Fruit: Model Susanōo), Hito Hito no Mi: Moderu Kagutsuchi (Human-Human Fruit: Model Kagutsuchi), and Hito Hito no Mi: Moderu Tsukuyomi (Human-Human Fruit: Model Tsukuyomi). Together, they are unofficially called the Bujin no Mi (Fruit of the War Gods), because separately, they have the power to destroy an entire island, while together, they have the potential to destroy the world."_**

By this point, the three brothers' eyes were taking up half of their faces.

"So cool!" Luffy whispered, before breaking the moment with his usual stupidity. "What's a Zoan?"

Sabo shook his head in amusement at his younger brothers' ignorance, before explaining.

"There are three main types of Akuma no Mi (Devil Fruits). The first is Paramecia, which alters the body in some slight way. Usually, it gives an ability to affect the environment, affect the user, or produce some substance without turning into said substance or without actually transforming. The second is Zoan – it gives the ability to transform into animals or other beasts. Finally, there's Logia, which is considered the most powerful. It allows the user to transform and create a certain element, like fire," At this Ace perked up, "Or lightning." At that Luffy's eyes widened in curiosity.

"Wait, these are Zoans though, right?" Luffy asked in dejection, as he thought that he wouldn't be getting cool lightning powers. Oh how wrong he would be…

"Yeah, but these are MYTHICAL Zoans. They're really rare – rarer than Logias, and considered at least as powerful, because they let you change into creatures of myth, not just cats or dogs or whatever." Ace explained.

Luffy sat up straighter. "Then get to reading! I wanna know what else this dude has to say!"

Sabo lightly bopped Luffy on the head, but did as requested.

**_"Now, these fruits work slightly differently form other Zoans. First, they allow you to transform body parts separate from a complete transformation. Second, when you enter the complete transformation, it is still not the final form that you can enter. After entering the final transformation, the user of the Bujin no Mi can then summon the weapons of this transformation. Summoning all of the weapons gives the user a power comparable to that of the gods, which are whose forms these fruits give, at least, according to my research. Susanōo is the fruit of the Storm God – Susanoo-no-Mikoto. The consumer of this fruit will grant the user control over storms, and to a certain extent, the weather, including lightning and wind. Kagutsuchi is the fruit of the Fire God – Hinokagutsuchi. Its consumer gains the power to create and control fire, magma, and heat. Finally, Tsukuyomi is the fruit of Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the Moon God. The realm of this fruit is most mysterious – it grants power over the Moon, meaning, to a certain degree, the tides, magic, light and purification._**

**_I leave these fruits along with this note to whoever finds it. I pray that the three who do are siblings and eternal allies, for a true battle between two of these monsters would be cataclysmic. Heed this, my final warning. Should you enter the final form, and summon all of the weapons to become a god, do not stay too long in that form, for the longer you stay, the more the god manifests. Maintain it for too long, and you will lose control over yourself, and become a mindless god forever, bent only on destruction and chaos._**

**_Signed, Wyvern D. Gord, Captain of the Wyvern Pirates"_**

The three boys sat still, as they processed what they had just finished reading. Luffy was the first to break the silence.

"I call the Storm fruit!" he shouted.

"Idiot!" Sabo and Ace yelled simultaneously, bonking their younger brother on the head.

"What?" Luffy whined. "I've always like lightning, and I know Ace isn't interested in it, he like fire. Wait…Sabo, do you want it?"

Sabo shook his head. "It wouldn't matter if I did anyway. Rules of pirate salvage – whoever finds the treasure gets first pick. Since you found it, you get to pick the fruit that you want to eat first."

Luffy eagerly shook his head in agreement, happy to find some official reason to justify his greed.

"Sabo, do you mind if I get the Fire God fruit? It's just…I've always liked fire, and if I were to ever eat a Devil Fruit, I'd want one that has to do with it." Ace asked gruffly, silently hoping that the blond boy would agree – he didn't want to have to fight him.

"Sure. 'Sides, I like the idea of being able to control the moon. Plus, imagine me shooting beams of light from my hands! Pew, pew!" Sabo laughed.

"Awesome!" Luffy yelled. "Now, let's eat!"

As one, the three brothers picked up their chosen fruits and bit into them.

**Time Skip to the day that Sabo gets kidnapped**

"Let me go! Let me go you asshole! I'll beat the crap out of you!" Sabo screamed, trying to wiggle out of Bluejam's grip.

"Sure you will kid. You may be able to fight worthless grunts, but I'm a pirate captain! Now, shut up and stop squirming! Your dad may have wanted you unharmed, but he can't stop me from breaking a few limbs!" Bluejam threatened the blond-haired boy. "Ah, here he is now!"

Sabo's father was a man of medium height and build, but unlike the boy his hair was black, and he constantly wore an expression on his face as if he had smelled something disgusting. He walked up to Bluejam, and took a good look at Sabo.

"You have him then? Good. Now, Sabo come with me. I've had enough of your foolishness. We are going home, and you are going to attend to your studies and be a good little boy." Outlook III said in his quiet tone of voice.

"No! I'll never do that, and you can't make me!" Sabo screamed in defiance.

"Really? Are you sure about that? I'm a nobleman Sabo, I'm rich and powerful, and I can have your little friends taken care of at will. Now, you will obey me!" the nobleman threatened.

Sabo was silent, before he began to chuckle. Low, quiet, it grew louder and louder before blooming into a full-belly laugh. The contrast of the manic laughter against the silence unnerved the pirates and the corrupt nobleman, and they stared in mild fear and confusion at the little boy. Finally, Outlook III had had enough.

Slap!

The nobleman's palm connected with the cheek of his son, throwing the boy to the ground, and yet the laughter did not stop.

"What's so goddamned funny?!" the man screamed at the prone boy.

Sabo slowly got to his feet with his head bowed, his top hat causing a shadow to fall across his face.

"You know, I let myself get captured to see if you were any different from what you used to be like, but I was wrong. So now, you're going to let me go, or we're going to have a problem," the boy said softly.

"Sabo, if you don't stop acting like this, you're going to regret it!" Outlook III screamed in a rage tinted slightly with madness.

"No, no I won't. Oi, Bluejam." Sabo turned his attention to the pirate captain. "Doesn't the moon seem really pretty?"

The confused villain turned to look at the celestial object, and was too distracted to hear Sabo.

"**Tsuki…no Eikyō (Effect of the Moon)." **Sabo whispered. Bluejam's eyes became completely white, and he turned to look at the nobleman and his son.

"Bluejam…hit my father with your pistol." Sabo ordered. Wordlessly, Bluejam drew his firearm, and angled his arm.

"Oi, Bluejam, what the hell are you doing? I'm a nobleman, how dare you…!" Outlook III's words were cut short by the butt of Bluejam's gun slamming into his head, causing the nobleman to fall to the ground. Sabo knelt down to stare his father in the face.

"If you ever threaten me or my brothers again, I swear, I don't care if you're my father or Kami himself, I'll kill you. Got that?" Sabo said quietly. Outlook III could do nothing but nod his head silently. "Good. Now, allow me to assist you on your way home."

Sabo stood up straight and raised his right hand, his index finger extended.

"**Mangetsu…Hari! (Full Moon Beam)"** he intoned, causing a ball of pure white light to form at the tip of his finger and suddenly extend into a beam, striking his father in the chest and causing him to fly towards the gate leading into Goa.

"As for you, Bluejam…" Sabo turned back to look at the pirate captain, whose eyes had by then returned to their natural color. Bluejam took a step back, and tripped over a lying figure. Turning to look around, he saw Ace and Luffy standing a few meters away, with the rest of his pirate crew lying on the ground motionless. With matching evil grins, the three brothers launched themselves at the captain…

**That's a wrap! The next chapter will be skipping to the time when Luffy first set sail and the beginning of the Romance Dawn Arc. It should take maybe 2 chapters at max, but I will try to make it interesting, and not just a rehash of the anime arc, but the main differences will be the fight scenes, because with a different Devil Fruit Luffy's fighting style is obviously very different. Final note: I haven't fully finished the ability lists for Luffy, Sabo, and Ace, so if anyone has any ideas, send them my way. If I haven't used them already, and if I like them, I'll include them in the story at some point. I'll try to make most chapters between 3000-5000 words, so this is a bit short for me usually. But that's all for now, see ya guys latah!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello and welcome to the true chapter one of Gods of War! This is the start of the Romance Dawn Arc, which should last maybe 1-2 chapters. So, without further ado, let's dive right in!**

**Also: This chapter should answer the question everybody has in regards to Luffy's crew.**

Speech – "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

_Thoughts – 'I'm going to be the Pirate King!'_

**Technique – "Gomu Gomu no…Mushi!" (Gum-Gum Whip)**

**_Letters/Notes/Anything written – 'Welcome to Saobody Archipelago!'_**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Oda does.**

"Huh, I wonder what's in this barrel…" a short pink-haired boy wondered, as he rolled the vessel on its side.

"Oi, Coby, whatcha got in there?" he head a rough voice call from the doorway.

Jumping back in fear, Coby flattened himself against the wall as gazed at the three pirates who had barged into the room.

"N-nothing, I just wanted to open it to see what was inside!" he squeaked out.

"Oh? I bet it's booze! Let's have some!" another pirate smiled cruelly.

"But, what if Alvida-sama finds out! She'll kill us!" Coby gasped in fear.

"What Alvida doesn't know won't hurt her. You're not going to tell her, are you?" the last pirate threatened the cabin boy.

"N-no, of course not!" Coby replied, desperately hoping to escape the situation with minimum pain.

"Alright, let's crack this open!" the first pirate to speak shouted to his comrades, as the three advanced on the upright barrel. Suddenly, the receptacle burst open from the sides, top, and bottom, as two arms, two legs, and a head in a straw hat emerged from within.

The unexpected explosion of motion sent the three pirates backpedaling, as they backed up to the door to gaze in fear at the strange creature. A strange growling sound coming from the barrel was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"M-m-monster!" the three screamed simultaneously in fear, and beat a hasty retreat.

The only reason Coby didn't follow was that he was frozen in fear, and could do nothing but stand in place and quake.

The thing turned to look at the pink-haired boy, and Coby finally got a good look at it, and suddenly realized that it wasn't a monster – it was just a man in a barrel. The growl sounded again, and Coby started to quake again, when the man spoke.

"HUUUUUUUUUUUNGRYYYYYYYYYYYY!" he moaned. Coby squeaked again and started backing away. The man turned to look Coby in the face, and opened his mouth to speak again.

"Do you have any food? I'm really hungry…" he said.

"Y-y-yes, right here!" Coby stuttered before reaching for some meat on a shelf and tossing it to the man, hoping that it would appease him, and hoping even more that he would not be the next thing on his menu.

"Ah! Meat!" the man cried out in joy, before catching the piece and shoving in his mouth. Quickly chewing and swallowing, the man rubbed the barrel in the place his belly would be and groaned in satisfaction.

"Thanks. Oh, by the way, my name's Luffy. What's yours?" he asked. "Wait, hold that thought."

Luffy turned his head down to look at the barrel, before raising his arms so that they were parallel to the ground, and brought them down simultaneously, fists striking the place where his chest would be like a gorilla, smashing the barrel into miniscule pieces.

"Much better." Luffy smiled, before sitting down. "So, what's your name? And where am I? Am I on a pirate ship?"

"I'm Coby, and no, you're not on a pirate ship. You're on a cruise ship that is currently being robbed by the Alvida Pirates." Coby explained. "I've been enslaved to them for almost two years now… I was going out to go fishing one day, but I accidentally got on the wrong boat and had to become a slave to them."

Luffy started laughing.

"That's a pretty dumb way of ending up on a pirate ship, you're pretty dumb." He chuckled. Coby just sobbed a few times and started crying.

"Yeah, I guess so. But the thing is, I really, really want to escape, and become a Marine." He sobbed. "But that's never going to happen, I'm never getting off this ship."

"Why not? If you want to do something, do it!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Are you crazy? Alvida has an 8 million beli bounty on her head – if I try to escape she'll kill me!" Coby said, his face nearly milk-white in fear.

"So, you're a coward, then." Luffy said plainly, before grinning widely. "I don't like you."

Coby didn't disagree, and just sobbed, as he knew that the straw hat-clad boy was right, but couldn't just let someone mock him losing his dream without rebuttal.

"Well, what's your dream then?" Coby challenged, choking back tears.

"Shishishishishishi!" Luffy laughed with his eyes closed. "I…am the man who is going to become the Pirate King!"

Coby gaped at the boy, tears forgotten.

"You want to be the Pirate King?" he asked, not sure if he had heard correctly.

Luffy nodded.

"That's impossible! That can't happen! There are too many strong people in the world, there's no way you could do it, you'd die!" he shouted.

Luffy just shrugged.

"Don't care. If I make it, that's ok. If I die, that's ok too." He said simply. Coby could only stare at the boy, his jaw hanging loose. Luffy elaborated.

"Even if I don't make it, I'm happy if I die standing up for my beliefs and doing what I enjoy doing. When you believe in something, you have to scream it to the heavens, and do everything in your power to achieve your dreams." He explained. Suddenly, the pair's conversation was interrupted by a loud crash, as a fat woman fell through the ceiling into the cellar the two were in.

"Hmm, you don't look like "Pirate Hunter" Zoro…" she muttered, gazing at the straw hat-clad boy.

"Oi, Coby." Luffy turned to look at the pink-haired boy. "Who's this fat, ugly hag?"

Said hag and Coby both went stock still, and both became white as sheets of new paper, the former from rage, and the latter from terror.

"You…dare?!" Alvida roared, raising her iron club to smash the boy, who suddenly grabbed Coby and whispered.

"**Harikēn Nagatatsu (Hurricane Boots).**" The boy was launched into the air, and he smashed straight through the ceiling, ending up on the floor of the next level, all while holding a disoriented Coby, who was close to passing out from shock.

"H-h-how did you do that?!" Coby screamed, finally snapping out of his frozen state.

"When I was a kid, I ate the **Hito Hito no Mi: Moderu Susanōo (Human-Human Fruit: Model Susanōo)**. I'm an **Arashi Ningen (Storm Human)." **Luffy said, as if that explained everything. "I can create and control storms, including wind."

Without warning, the fat woman burst through the floor and landed on the deck, face red and chest heaving as she panted from the exertion. She turned to look at Coby, causing him to quake in his boots, and roared.

"Coby! Who is the most beautiful woman on this sea!" she screamed. Coby opened his mouth to speak.

"I-it is of course…" he stuttered, then turned to look at a grinning Luffy, and changed his mind. "It is of course…not you, the ugliest stinking hag in the entire world! I hate you, and one day, I'm going to become a Marine and chase scum like you!"

Alvida first went white, then turned rage with rage. She lifted her club high, and swung down, aiming to leave naught but a wet stain from the pink-haired cabin boy.

_'That's it. At least I stood up for what I believed. If I die now, it's ok.' _Coby thought, his eyes screwed shut, prepared for death. He was mightily surprised when after the whistling sound he heard from the club swinging through the air, he heard a THUNK, but felt no pain, nor even an impact. Opening his eyes, he realized that he had been pushed out of the way, and looked to where he had been, only to see Luffy standing there, his arm stretched out holding the massive mace in place.

The pirate turned to look at Coby.

"I didn't get to finish my earlier explanation of my powers. See, storms are wind, but they're also…lightning." He grinned and raised his other hand, pointing his index finger at the shocked into place Alvida. "**Rakurai (Lightning Strike)!"**

A lightning bolt formed at the tip of the index finger, and suddenly hurled at the fat pirate captain, slamming into her. For a moment, all was calm, before the bolt exploded in heat and fire, throwing Alvida clear across the deck of the ship, slamming her into the mast and knocking her out. He then turned to look at the gaping members of the Alvida Pirates.

"Any of you other jokers wanna mess with me?" he grinned. "I'm always happy to kick some ass."

The others scrambled to deny any desire to fight the madman and to demonstrate their wish accede to his every request.

"Coby wants to be a Marine. Give us a boat and some supplies, now!" Luffy ordered.

The pirates rushed to bring the two a boat, a barrel with food and another with water. Luffy smiled widely.

"Excellent. Coby, get on!" he called. The shuddering cabin boy, still barely able to comprehend the events rapidly taking place before his eyes, stepped onto the boat as if in a daze.

"Good, now come on, out to sea!" Luffy called, pointing out to the wide-open waters, and the two set sail.

"Say, Coby. Who was that Zoro guy the fat woman mentioned?" Luffy asked Coby while lying down. Coby turned to look at Luffy incredulously.

"You want to be a pirate, and you don't even know who the most dangerous person for you in this ocean is?!" he asked in disbelief. Luffy shrugged.

"Nope." He beamed. Coby just shook his head, wondering how this moron had survived so long.

"Roronoa 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro…he's a bounty hunter, no, he's a DEMON that goes after pirates. They say he only cares about money, and that's why he attacks pirates – not to do the right thing or to prove his strength, but to acquire the bounties associated with them." Coby explained, "I actually think he was recently captured by the Marines and is in the Shells Town Marine Base, in the Yotsuba Island Region."

"Ah, so he's really strong then, right?" Luffy asked. Coby nodded. "Well, then, it's decided. He's going to join my pirate crew!"

Coby's legs dropped out from under him, and he fell to the boat bottom with a loud thunk.

"Did you not hear any of what I just said to you?! He's a PIRATE HUNTER, he'll kill you the moment he sees you!" he screamed.

Luffy shrugged again.

"No he won't. I'll convince him to join my crew. Hmmmm… You know, I'll have to recruit a few more people for it…10 should be a good amount, what do you think?" Luffy asked.

"You know what…I don't want to get involved in your crazy life. I just want to join the Marines." Coby shook his head. Luffy nodded.

"Then set a course for Shells Town, pinky." He said.

"Shells Town. Shells Town MARINE BASE. Where there is a GROUP of MARINES stationed. And ZORO the PIRATE HUNTER. THAT SHELLS TOWN?!" Coby shrieked the last sentence.

Luffy nodded again.

"It's a win-win situation. You get to join the Marines, and I get to recruit Zoro for my crew. Now, chop-chop, before I throw you off the boat." He ordered. Coby shuddered, but did as he was commanded.

* * *

Within a couple of hours, the pair had arrived at the Marine base and disembarked the boat.

"Well, this is where we part ways, then." Coby said, turning to look at Luffy, but unable to see him. Looking ahead, he saw the crazy boy climbing the wall that separated the town from the inner base. "Oi, what are you doing!?"

Luffy craned his neck to look at Coby and made a shushing motion, then beckoned the former slave to come up. Coby shook his head in surrender, but followed the pirate up to the top of the wall.

Coby's eyes went as large as saucers when he saw what was inside the courtyard: a tall, green-haired man, tied to a cross, head bowed and covered with dirt and sweat. He looked almost dead, but the faint rise and fall of his chest gave him away as still alive.

As the two looked on, they suddenly saw a little girl walk up to the wall, climb up with the help of the ladder, jump inside the courtyard, and run to Zoro, and then heard him speak.

"Oi, little girl, what are you doing here?" his gruff voice sounded.

"I-I-I made you a rice ball…to thank you for your help." The small voice of the little girl responded.

Zoro grunted, but shook his head.

"No, little girl. I said a month, and it's going to be a month. Thank you, but no." he said. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he saw a certain blond brat burst out of the Marine Base Building.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Aiding a known criminal? That's an offense punishable by death, don't you know?" the brat arrogantly spoke, towering over the little girl. "Oh, a rice ball. Don't mind if I do."

Ignoring the girl's vehement requests to stop, the blond grabbed the rice ball out of her hands and took a large bite out of it, before spitting it out in disgust.

"Disgusting! It's way too sweet! What did you do, put sugar in here?!" he demanded from the girl.

"I-I thought it would taste better sweet…" the little girl murmured, simultaneously humiliated and terrified.

"Salt! You're supposed to use salt, you stupid girl!" the blond screamed, throwing the rice ball into the ground, and stomping it with his foot, thoroughly mixing it with the mud.

"You!" he shouted, pointing at a Marine soldier that was with him as part of his escort. "Throw her out of here!"

The Marine nodded and took the girl by the hand and started to lead her out, but he was stopped by the blonde's voice again.

"Did I stutter? I said, THROW HER OUT! OVER THE WALL!" he screamed again.

"She's a little girl! I-I can't do that!" the Marine protested.

"Oh? Are you disobeying me? Are you forgetting who my father is!?" the blonde's face was nearly red with rage. "If you don't do as I say, I'll have you executed! Now, THROW HER OVER THE WALL!"

The Marine had no choice but to do as ordered, but while he made a show of throwing the girl, he actually put her down on the ground gently.

Meanwhile, the brat walked up to Zoro, a stupid smile on his face.

"Still alive, eh, Zoro?" he said mockingly. Zoro smiled coldly.

"Of course. I'm going to survive the whole month." He replied.

"Well, you just do your best." The brat laughed a high-pitched, cruel laugh, as if he was in on a joke that Zoro was not aware of, and began walking towards the gate.

"Remember – 10 days left!" Zoro called to the brat's back. The brat stopped, and turned to look at Zoro with an odd expression on his face.

"That is, if you survive that long. Gihihihihihi!" he laughed that laugh again and left with his Marine escort.

"What a cruel thing to do!" Coby said in shock. "Why did he need to hurt that litte girl?"

He looked at where Luffy was, to ask what he thought of the actions of the Marines, but was surprised to see the boy was not there, though he really should not have been. A blur of motion caught his eye, and he saw Luffy walking across the courtyard up to the bound swordsman.

"Hey…are you a bad person?" Luffy asked the green-haired man.

"You're still here?" Zoro asked with his eyebrow raised in query.

"Yeah, I'm still here. Say, you can't be that strong, can you? If I were stuck here, I would've broken out in 1 day." Luffy said in disappointment, his hopes that this was a strong person who could join his crew dashed.

"I could've broken out of here before they out me here, but I'm different from you. I will survive…just to prove them wrong!" Zoro said, a smirk on his face. Luffy smiled widely at that, nodded, and turned to leave, when Zoro called him.

"Oi, before you go." Luffy turned around to look at the speaking swordsman, "Can you give me that rice ball?"

"This?" Luffy asked, picking up the squashed food. "It's more of a mud ball now, probably tastes disgusting."

"Shut up! Just give it to me!" Zoro demanded. Luffy shrugged, but did as he was asked and gave the swordsman the food. Zoro chewed and swallowed the food with difficulty, an expression of distaste on his face as he did.

"See?" Luffy said with an 'I-told-you-so' expression on his face.

"It was delicious. Tell her that." Zoro said. Luffy smiled again.

"Really? He liked them that much? Thank goodness!" the little girl, whose name they now knew was Rika, said. Coby beamed in happiness at making the little girl feel good after her ordeal.

"Hey, little girl, is Zoro really such a bad guy?" Luffy asked her. "He seems fine."

Rika vehemently shook her head.

"Zoro is a really good guy, it's all that Helmeppo's fault." She said angrily.

"Helmeppo? Who's that?" Coby asked.

"He's Captain Morgan's son." Rika answered sadly. "It's all his and that stupid wolf of his fault."

_Flashback to 20 days ago_

_"Make way! Make way for me and my cute little pet!" Helmeppo arrogantly announced, as his wolf walked on the road in front of him. The savage beast growled constantly, and sniffed everything aggressively, lunging at people erratically, snapping its massive teeth every once in a while. The pair, along with a group of Marines escorting them, barged into the town bar. There, the wolf proceeded to terrify the patrons and steal their food, all the while growling menacingly._

_"Get out of here! Go away!" Rika tried to hit the wolf with a mop and scare it away, but the wolf could care less._

_"Oh? Do you have a problem with my pet?" Helmeppo asked the little girl with a smug smile on his face._

_"Rika, stop it! You'll get yourself in trouble!" her scared mom said from behind the counter. The wolf growled again, and launched itself at the horrified girl with its mouth wide open, displaying teeth as sharp as knives._

_Suddenly, a rapid stool to the snout, knocking the brute into a wall and unconscious, stopped the beast's movement._

_Helmeppo's jaw dropped._

_"Oi, who dared harm my pet?!" he screamed, a half angry half startled expression on his face. He turned to look at Zoro, quietly sitting and eating his food. "Was it you?!"_

_He then got a good look at whom he was pointing his sword at._

_"It can't be…'Pirate Hunter' Zoro?! Why is a pirate hunter bothering the Marines." He asked in his high-pitched voice._

_"Go away and let me eat in peace, little boy." Zoro arrogantly said, as he put a piece of meat in his mouth and began to chew._

_"How dare you!" a blush of fury colored Helmeppo's milk-white cheeks, and he launched at the swordsman with the saber he held in his hands. However, Zoro leaned back a bit, causing the sword to hit the bar instead. Before Helmeppo could react, Zoro's foot moved quickly, striking the sword and flinging it up with the blade getting stuck in the ceiling. Catapulting himself with the momentum gathered from the motion, Zoro followed up with a punch to Helmeppo's stunned face, slamming him into the bar. Zoro then stood up, kicking the stool out from under him as he did._

_Helmeppo finally snapped out of his shock and opened his mouth to speak, when he realized that there was a very sharp sword very close to his cheek, and the words stuck in his mouth. _

_"You're annoying." Zoro said, a bored expression on his face. "Your pet too."_

_Helmeppo whimpered in terror, afraid for his life. However, realization struck him in a few seconds, and his mouth curled into a nasty smirk._

_"You don't understand, do you? My father is Captain Morgan! At a word from me, he could have all of these people executed!" he boasted. Zoro paused, and turned to look at the gathered crowd, whose faces were slowly turning from elation at seeing the blonde get his long-deserved comeuppance, to fear as they realized that they could all be potentially killed for this event._

_"Let's avoid all of that bloodshed, and make a deal." Helmeppo said in an arrogant tone of voice while standing up. "How about instead of them, you go to jail for, say, a month. Yes, that sounds good! If you survive for a month, I'll even let you go! What do you say?"_

_Zoro was silent for a few moments, and then replied._

_"A month, huh?" he said, before shocking the crowd with his next action. Slackening the grip on his katana, he let it fall to the ground, with the tip driving into the wooden floor. Zoro had surrendered._

_Flashback end_

"It's been three weeks since then, and that stupid Helmeppo kicks and punches him every day, because he can't react. I hate that stupid Helmeppo!" Rika said. Just after finishing her story, they group heard a crash, and ran into the bar to see Helmeppo sitting with his feet on a table.

"Oi, I'm eating here for free. Where's the alcohol? Bring me some now!" he ordered. When the wine was brought, he took a big gulp, and then put it down. "Oh, by the way. I'm bored and tired of waiting, so I'm going to have Zoro executed tomorrow. You should all look forward to it!"

Helmeppo took another drink, but was forced to spit it out when Luffy's fist rapidly struck his face, slamming him into the bar wall. The collision nearly broke his nose, and blood flowed freely from it. He turned his head to see what had hit him, and was confronted with the sight of a heavily breathing, enraged Luffy.

"Don't you know who I am? I'm Captain Morgan's son!" he shrieked in pain and fear.

"Does it look like I care? I'll kill you, you piece of trash!" Luffy said passionately. Turning to look at Coby, he said, "Now, I'm definitely going to have Zoro join my crew!"

Suddenly, a voice called from the bar.

"Don't you think that that decision should be made by more than just you, Luffy?"

Luffy turned towards the direction of the voice.

"Oh, Ace! I'm glad I found you! How've you been?" he asked. In front of Coby's eyes, a man stood up from behind a group of sitting patrons. He was a bit taller than Luffy, and wore only pants, no shirt. Following the theme of his brother, the man was also wearing a hat, more specifically, an orange fedora with two blue smileys on it. His right arm had a tattoo of the word ACE on his forearm.

"If he's going to be a member of our crew, I think I should get a say, don't you think?" he said, walking up to the shorter boy.

Luffy laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Eh, you'd agree with whoever I picked, I wouldn't choose someone bad." He riposted. "By the way, I'm glad you made your way out of that storm."

Ace chuckled.

"You should be, considering it was your fault. Speaking of which, have you found Sabo yet?" he asked.

"Nah, not yet. But I'm sure we will. But in any case, what do you think of Zoro joining our crew?" Luffy asked the taller boy. Ace shrugged.

"Like you said, you wouldn't choose someone bad. And from what I've heard, he's survived almost three weeks without food or water, which automatically makes him a near-hero in my book." Ace laughed. "Heaven knows neither you nor I could survive a day."

Luffy snorted in agreement. Finally, Coby got a chance to speak in the pause that ensued.

"Excuse me, but who is this?" he asked Luffy, who turned to look at the pink-haired boy.

"Ah, I didn't tell you, did I? This is my older brother, Ace. He's the second captain of my crew." Luffy explained.

"Second captain? How does that work?" Coby asked in confusion, turning to Ace for an explanation, but was disappointed as the two brothers shrugged in tandem.

"No idea. We'll figure it out when we've got a bigger crew." The two said together.

Coby sweatdropped.

"YOU CAN'T FORM A PIRATE CREW WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS FIRST!" he screamed. Luffy laughed again, and patted the irate boy on the shoulder.

"What's it to you? You're going to be a Marine anyway." He said, a smile on his face. However, the happy expression soon slid off, and he turned to face his older brother. "Listen, that stupid piece of trash Helmeppo wants to break his deal with Zoro and execute him tomorrow. For me, that means that Zoro is no longer beholden to his deal, so what say you and I do a bit of liberation?"

Ace smirked.

* * *

A tall man sat in a chair in a large ornate office. A large cigar hung from his mouth, large puffs of smoke being emitted from it every once in a while. A single Marine stood at attention, waiting to hear the man speak.

"I…am great!" the tall man finally said, taking the cigar out of his mouth. The Marine instantly saluted.

"Yes, that is exactly the way it is, Captain Morgan!" he said, slightly nervously.

"However, there doesn't seem to be as much tribute for me as usual." The tall Captain continued. The Marine swallowed uneasily.

"I believe that that is because the income of our people has decreased." He replied carefully.

The captain shook his head.

"No. The problem is that they do not have enough admiration for me." He said. Whatever the Marine was going to say was cut off by the door slamming open, and Helmeppo barging inside.

"Father! There is someone that I need you to kill!" he screamed.

Zoro was sweating heavily under the sweltering sun, as old memories flashed through his mind…sparring with Kuina, losing, watching her smile…

_'I…I can't die in a place like this…I made a promise…!'_

He was pulled out of his thoughts when his instinct alerted him to a new presence in the courtyard. Looking up, he saw the boy from earlier, but another, slightly older, with no shirt, accompanied him.

"You again? You have too much free time. And who's this with you?" he asked, pointing with his head in the direction of the shirtless boy in emphasis of his last question.

"That's my brother. I'm going to untie you and you're going to join our crew." Luffy said simply.

"Really? Who says? I'm not joining your crew, I have no desire to do that." Zoro said.

"Oh? Why not? What's wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"Pirates are scum. Do you want me to be evil?" Zoro said calmly.

"Eh? You're already known as the 'evil pirate hunter', so why should you care?" Luffy asked with a smile.

"That's different. I don't care what society thinks." Zoro stated. At this, the taller boy finally spoke.

"If you don't care what society thinks, then what's the problem with being an 'evil pirate' instead of an 'evil pirate HUNTER'?" he asked with his eyebrow raised.

Luffy just shook his head.

"Eh, none of that matters, I've decided that you're going to join our crew, and that's that. Say, you use a sword, don't you?" he asked suddenly.

"Y-yeah, I do, but that dumb brat Helmeppo took it." Zoro asked, slightly startled by the question. Luffy nodded.

"Right then, I'm going to get your swords back, and then you're going to join our crew." Having said that, the boy rushed off towards the entrance to the base.

"What the… Is he going to assault the entire base on his own?!" the swordsman asked incredulously.

"I wouldn't put it past him." The older boy said, shaking his head and sitting down. "In any case, there's no point to you sticking around here any longer. Oh, before I say anything else, Luffy!"

The boy running towards the gate stopped in place and turned his head to listen to his brother.

"The base is that way." Ace pointed towards the base. Luffy nodded.

"Alright then, thanks." He said, beginning to run towards the base, "Ah, let's go a bit quicker. **Harikēn…Nagatatsu! (Hurricane Boots)**

The boy was launched by a jet of air towards the tower.

"What…what the hell is he?!" Zoro screamed in surprise. Ace merely chuckled.

* * *

"Pull! Pull! Pull!" the Marines chanted as they worked as a team to raise the big statue. Having managed to get it parallel to the ground, they were stopped by a shout from Morgan.

"Good, stop! Hold it there! Now, raise it with a single pull!" he ordered.

"Oi, dad, why aren't you helping me get revenge?" Helmeppo asked, appearing as if out of nowhere. "That guy, he punched this face that not even my father has ever punched!"

Morgan turned to look at his son. The man truly did look terrifying. He stood tall, at least 7 feet, and his lower jaw was replaced with metal, but what truly stood out was his right arm. Where there should have been a hand, there was instead an axe, with the handle seemingly going straight through his forearm.

"Do you know the reason why I never punched you?" Morgan asked in his deep bass. Helmeppo's face became slightly confused.

"Well…it's because I'm your beloved…" he said nervously. Morgan nodded.

"Exactly. The reason I never punched you is…" he suddenly turned around, his left arm swinging out and slamming into Helmeppo's face, smashing the boy into a wall. "Because you are not worth being punched! Worthless son!"

Helmeppo cringed in fear and surprise, tears and snot leaking out of various orifices on his face as he saw a side of his father he had never seen before.

"Don't forget." Morgan said, as he used his axe-hand to lift Helmeppo off the ground. "I let you use my name to get what you want, but the one who is great isn't you…it's me!"

He dropped the boy on the ground and turned around to face the Marines.

"It seems that there was an intruder in the execution grounds today." He stated.

Helmeppo perked up, and nervously spoke.

"Oh, y-yes, I took care of her." He said, stuttering a bit. Morgan nodded, turning to face his son.

"Then I assume she is dead then?" he asked, leaning in and looking Helmeppo in the face.

"N-no, she's just a little girl!" Helmeppo replied, a bit taken aback with his father. Morgan scoffed and stood up straight again.

"You!" he said, pointing at a random Marine. "Go into town and finish the job!"

The Marine's eyebrows climbed into his head, and sweat stood out on his brow.

"Sir, she's just a little girl! I can't do it sir, even if it's your order!" the Marine protested.

"Oh, is that so?" Morgan said, before suddenly striking the hapless soldier to the ground with the flat of his axe blade. "Whether it's an old man, a woman, or even a kid, anyone who disobeys my order is a traitor!"

He scoffed at, but gained satisfaction from the terror emanating from the Marines and his son, all quaking in their shoes as they listened to the captain.

"Whatever. I'll take care of the kid myself later." He shook his head. "For now, gaze upon this!"

He pointed at the statue slowly being raised into position.

"It took many months, but now, it's finally finished! The monument to my greatness!" he proclaimed. "Raise it here, to the highest point of the town, so that all my witness the wonder that is me!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Luffy had landed next to the tower, and was looking in confusion at it.

"Hmm, where is everybody? I have to find that stupid son and get Zoro's swords back…" he said. Hearing some commotion from the top, he turned his head to look. "Looks like something's going on there…let's go check it out!"

Bending his knees slightly, Luffy breathed in and out a few times.

**"Harikēn…Nagatatsu! (Hurricane Boots)" **he yelled, as the blast of air launched him up to the very top. Gazing around, he saw that he had overreached, and was currently on a trajectory that would throw him clear past the tower and back on the ground.

"Ah, too far, too far!" he yelled, as the Marines, Helmeppo, and Morgan looked on in surprise at the flying man. "Ooh, a rope!"

Luffy snagged his hand on a rope attached to the still not-raised statue and stopped his flight. Unfortunately, this caused the Marines holding it to lose control and drop it. Luffy landed on the ground in time to see the statue crack, and for the top half of the body to fall downwards towards the ground, where it smashed into a million pieces.

Morgan's jaw dropped as he saw the masterpiece that he had been expecting for months suddenly be destroyed via the actions of a single boy.

"Ah…I'm very sorry about that." Luffy said quietly in apology. Morgan was quiet for a moment, before…

"Capture him! Immediately! I'll kill him myself!" he screamed in rage.

"Father! That's the guy who hit me!" Helmeppo loudly whined, pointing at Luffy. Unfortunately for the boy, this also had the unintended side-effect of garnering Luffy's attention.

"Oh, it's you! Let's go!" Luffy loudly exclaimed, grabbing Helmeppo by the collar. "There's something that I need to you to give me."

Helmeppo in tow, the pirate ran into the base before the Marines or Morgan could react.

"Capture him! Don't let him get away!" Morgan ordered loudly.

"Captain! There's someone on the execution field!" said a Marine who had taken the time to look down, and finally noticed Ace sitting on the ground, talking to the bound swordsman.

"More and more traitors seem to be appearing…" Morgan said ominously.

* * *

Meanwhile, an orange-haired girl was sneaking around the base, when she heard the pounding footsteps of Marines.

"Gonna have to be quiet…" she whispered, hiding in a nearby nook. "There's some kind of disturbance…"

Ahead of several pursuing Marines ran Luffy, dragging an irate Helmeppo on the ground as he did.

"Oi, where is Zoro's sword? I need to give it back to him." Luffy asked Helmeppo, turning his head down to look the blonde in the face.

"I-I'll tell you, just stop dragging me on the ground!" the bruised and dirty brat replied. Luffy immediately stopped in place, lifting Helmeppo off the ground into a standing position, and looking him straight in the face.

"So, where are they?" he asked calmly.

"In my room! We just passed it!" Helmeppo said, finally catching his breath. Luffy sighed.

"Man, why didn't you say that before? Now I have to turn around and go back…" Starting to do just that, Luffy saw three Marines nervously pointing their rifles at him.

"Don't move! Release Helmeppo-sama!" one of the Marines called.

"No." Luffy said simply, raising Helmeppo up in front of him, so that he became a sort of human shield. "Shoot if you want to."

"No! Don't shoot!" Helmeppo screamed in terror, as Luffy barged forward through the Marines.

"Move outta my way!" Luffy yelled, as the Marines parted in front of him for fear of hurting Helmeppo.

* * *

"Well…I think that's about enough time waiting." Ace said, standing up and taking a short knife out of his pants. "Let's get you out of these ropes."

Using the blade of the knife, Ace began to quickly and dexterously slice the ropes without inflicting a single cut on the immobile Zoro as he did.

"Stop! You're going to get yourself killed!" Zoro said, unwilling to be the cause of death of a man going so far to do him good. Ace snorted and shook his head.

"The day a man like Captain Morgan or any Marine under him kills me is the day I commit suicide before they can." He replied arrogantly.

"Well, you can't do this! I still have 10 days left!" Zoro answered slightly angrily. "I never break a deal!"

"You don't, but Helmeppo will." Ace replied, cutting apart the rest of the bindings before elaborating. "He never intended to wait the whole month. He's going to have you executed tomorrow."

"Really." Zoro said calmly, standing up and stretching his back. Ace nodded his head.

* * *

Luffy stood at the entrance of the, to be honest, fairly girly room.

"Hmmm…oh, there it is!" Luffy said, noticing three swords standing next to a window. "Oi, Helmeppo!"

The blonde could not reply, as the punches, running around and being used as a battering ram had finally taken their toll on the boy, and he was out for the count.

"Dammit, there are three swords…which one is Zoro's?" Luffy muttered in consternation, before brightening. "Well, I'll just take all three."

Walking up to the window, he picked up the three swords, but dropped Helmeppo when he looked outside. There, in the courtyard, stood his brother and Zoro, and the pair was surrounded by a group of Marines, all holding up rifles and taking aim at them, Captain Morgan standing a bit behind.

"Ah, man. Those guys are in trouble…I just hope they don't piss of Ace." Luffy murmured, as memories of an angry Ace flashed through his mind and he shuddered.

"Freeze!" Morgan ordered in Ace and Zoro's direction. "For the treason that you have committed against me, you will now be executed!"

Ace raised his eyebrow, while Zoro merely smirked. Meanwhile, Coby stood on the wall watching the occurring events.

"You guys did some interesting things." Morgan said, "Do you and that straw hat boy intend to start a revolution?"

Ace laughed.

"Start a revolution? Nah, that's not out style. We're just taking this guy and moving on." He said, gesturing at Zoro.

"You're not moving on anywhere, because you will die right here and now! Men, fire!" he ordered the Marines.

As one, the group of Marines pulled back the triggers to fire, sending a hail of death at Zoro and Ace, who grinned and opened his mouth to speak.

**"Maguma…Nagare (Magma Flow)!" **Ace called out, spitting a large stream of magma that consumed the oncoming bullets, solidifying within moments and falling to the ground as a hunk of metamorphic rock.

"No way…!" a Marine muttered in shock at the sight.

Suddenly, Luffy landed next to Ace, holding three swords in his left hand.

"Oi, Ace, you've gotten good at controlling that." He said in admiration, and then turned to look at Zoro. "Oi, Zoro, I didn't know which of the swords was yours, so I brought all three."

"I use **Santoryu, **so all three are mine." Zoro explained as Luffy ooooh'd in admiration. "Now, give them to me."

Luffy smiled and shook his head.

"You have a choice here now, either I give you the swords and you join my crew, or you die here by their hands." Luffy gave his ultimatum, pointing at the Marines in emphasis of his last phrase.

"Well, since you've backed me into a bit of a corner, why not. Could be fun at least." Zoro said. Luffy smiled widely, and turned to look at Ace, who gave him a thumbs-up.

"Oi, don't you think that you're not paying enough attention?" Morgan barked, before turning to look at Ace. "You ate the **Akuma no Mi, **didn't you?"

Ace nodded.

"Yeah, I ate the **Hito Hito no Mi: Moderu Kagutsuchi. **I'm a **Mōka Ningen (Inferno Human)." **He replied.

"I see. I've heard about the Devil Fruits…they can supposedly give you the power to generate fire or create tsunamis." Morgan replied thoughtfully, before changing his tone. "But none of that matters! I am the strongest, and you will die! Men, charge!"

As one, the Marines drew their cutlasses and attacked the group, running at them while yelling threats.

"Oi, oi, oi, that's a bit rude, don't you think?" Luffy said calmly, then yelled, "**Kyōfū (Gale Force Winds)!"**

Breathing in heavily, Luffy then exhaled, releasing a powerful blast of wind at the charging Marines, throwing them all into the tower and knocking them unconscious.

"Here you go Zoro, in all that commotion I forgot to give these to you." Luffy said, handing Zoro his swords. Zoro nodded in thanks.

"Thank you for that. So, I guess I'm joining your crew, but remember this." Zoro said seriously. "If you get in the way of my dream, I'll kill you."

Luffy laughed loudly.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, you piece of trash! Stop ignoring me! I'll kill you!" Morgan screamed, throwing his coat to the ground. "I am the great 'Axe-Hand' Morgan!"

Luffy turned to look at the livid Captain.

"If it's a fight you want, I'm game, lockjaw." He challenged, before jumping back and taking a battle stance.

"Don't underestimate me, brat!" Morgan yelled, before charging at Luffy, axe-hand raised. Slamming down with the weapon, he was sure that he would slice the boy in half, but was surprised to feel his arm hit solid ground, splitting the soil and sending gouges for meters.

Turning around, he saw Luffy standing on his arms, grinning at the irate Captain, who took that as an insult, and, pulling his arm out of the ground, charged again, this time going for a vertical slice, but it was again not to be, for Luffy once again breathed in, and exhaled a large burst of air, sending himself flying and dodging the attack. Landing on his feet, the pirate then went on the offensive.

**"Harikēn Nagatatsu! (Hurricane Boots)" **he yelled, launching himself at the motionless Captain, and, taking him by surprise, struck him with a powerful right hook right to the metal jaw, sending him flying.

Luffy landed a few meters away and shook his hand out to numb the pain slightly. Standing still to see what the Captain would do next, he wasn't surprised at all to see the brute suddenly throw himself at the boy, axe-arm swinging.

"Die!" Morgan screamed in utter rage, as he tried to hit Luffy, who merely jumped in the air to dodge.

"Don't wanna!" Luffy replied cheerfully, spinning in the air and propelling himself feet first at the Marine, slamming him into the face and several meters away into the wall.

"C-Captain Morgan!" an astonished and terrified Marine said in horror, both horrified and deeply pleased at seeing the tyrant be put in his place.

"Straw Hat! Stop!" hearing the scream, Luffy stopped punching the prone captain to look at the source of the yelling. Turning around, he saw Helmeppo holding a gun to frightened Coby's head.

"If you don't want him to die, stop moving now and surrender!" Helmeppo ordered in terror.

"Now, now, none of that." The blonde brat suddenly heard behind him, before a powerful punch took him out of the land of the living.

Ace looked at Luffy.

"He's out for the count, you can keep going." He said cheerfully. Luffy grinned, before turning back to the Captain.

"Now then, how's about we make sure you don't bother anyone for a long time, eh?" he said ominously. "**Kaminari-kyū (Thunder Ball)!"**

A ball of lightning formed in Luffy's hand, which he then suddenly thrust right into Morgan's chest. The power of the electricity caused the Marine to writhe and scream in pain before finally falling unconscious.

"Well, that's that then." Zoro said simply, sheathing his swords, slightly disappointed that he didn't get a chance to use them.

* * *

"Hah, I knew it was here!" a certain orange-haired girl whispered, as she finally took out a piece of dried paper out of the Marine vault. However, she was to be disappointed.

**_"Ha-ha losers! I found it first!"_**

That was all that was on the paper, along with a drawing of a Jolly Roger with a big red nose.

"Dammit…Buggy got here first." The girl muttered in consternation.

* * *

Ace, Luffy, and Zoro were all sitting in the bar, celebrating the defeat of the tyrannical captain, when they were suddenly interrupted by the door slamming open and a squad of Marines filing in. Ace was instantly on his guard, but the Marines did not attack, they merely stood at attention. One of them stepped forward and saluted.

"My name is Lieutenant Ripper, and I have assumed command after Captain Morgan's defeat. I'm extremely sorry to have to do this, but we cannot tolerate pirates in this town. You have to leave." He said apologetically. The rest of the crowd in the bar began to get a tad raucous.

"Oi, you can't do that!"

"That Morgan was a menace!"

"We didn't see you do anything about him!"

"However," the man continued, "Due to our gratitude for your aid, we have given you a ship and supplies, and we will not be informing Marine HQ about your existence, however, you really do need to get going."

Luffy finished his drink and stood up.

"Eh, that's fine. Ace, Zoro, let's get outta here. We don't wanna cause these guys any trouble." He said, beginning to walk towards the door, Ace and Zoro following him.

The group walked through the town, with various villagers thanking them, saluting them, and cheering for them.

"Oi, Luffy. We gotta find Sabo at some point, he's probably somewhere in East Blue." Ace remarked to Luffy.

"Who's Sabo?" Zoro asked the brothers.

"Sabo's our third brother." Luffy replied, grinning. "He's the smartest of us, and the third captain of our group."

"Third captain? You and Ace are both captains?" Zoro asked in confusion.

"Yep." They replied in tandem. Zoro just shook his head.

"That might get a tad confusing, but we'll deal with it when it comes." He said stoically.

Luffy nodded.

"For now, however, to sea!"

**End.**

**Well, turns out it was only one chapter…**

**In case some of you are saying, "But you didn't cover Episode 4," shaddup and let me explain. I'm not going to do the flashback with Shanks, because in mah story, that's basically how it happened. For brevity's sake, it all went down the same way except Luffy didn't eat the Gomu-Gomu no Mi. Shanks still lost his arm. If you're thinking, "But it's a character-establishing moment!" I have a reply for you.**

**One, I don't like writing flashbacks. I really don't. I find them annoying, and since the vast majority of people that read fanfic have already gotten a major way through the series, or at least KNOW what the fuck's going on, I find them an exercise in repetition. **

**Two, the East Blue Saga is, for me, boring. I don't find it interesting until we get to the Arlong Park Arc, because that's the first time we get a truly interesting opponent, so, while I'm going to cover all of the Arcs, and I'm going to try to do them well, there are going to be certain parts where I just don't give a shit.**

**And if you start saying, "This chapter was really similar to canon", it's cuz Ace and Sabo's influence haven't started showing here yet – this is just the beginning of the diversion from Canon, so it's obviously going to be very similar. By the time we get to Grand Line, shit's going to start getting very different.**

**But, that's about it. I'm going to try and update once a week, and maintain at least a three chapter buffer between currently posted chapters and chapters currently being written, so if I don't get too bogged down in various crap, I shouldn't go on long hiatuses…at least until school starts. But anyway, Later peeps!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three of Gods of War is here!**

***wild cheers***

Speech – "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

_Thoughts – 'I'm going to be the Pirate King!'_

**Technique – "Gomu Gomu no…Mushi!" (Gum-Gum Whip)**

**_Letters/Notes/Anything written – 'Welcome to Saobody Archipelago!'_**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"Dammit, of all places to get stranded!" an orange-haired girl cursed out loud.

Having lost her paddle, she was absolutely helpless in the calm seas, and though she knew exactly where she was and where she was going, she couldn't get there. What a pain…

"Oi! Oi, nee-chan! What are you doing all the way out here without any paddles?" she heard a voice call. Turning her head, she saw another boat at sea; this one with three pirates on it, which she realized from the flag on top of the mast – the flag of Buggy the Clown. The boat pulled up next to her, and she put on her saddest face.

"I-I lost my paddles, and got stuck in the calm. Could you give me a lift? I have treasure on my boat, I can pay you!" she entreated, bending over a little bit for…persuasion purposes. The pirates leered a bit, before climbing onto her boat.

"Right, now, give us all of your treasure!" one of them exclaimed, suddenly pulling out a gun and aiming it at her. Nami instantly raised her hands in surrender.

"It's below deck! Go and get it!" she squeaked fearfully. Another pirate went below deck to find said treasure, but the minute he got below deck he heard a few thunks, a shout, and gunshot, and immediately ran back on deck, and was shocked to see his comrades lying unconscious on the floor and the girl on their boat, getting away.

"Too bad, suckers!" Nami jeered, sticking her tongue out at the pirate and waving her hand in mocking farewell.

_'Buggy, here I come!' _she thought to herself.

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, and Ace all lounged around the boat as it drifted onward, propelled by the wind and the waves.

"I'm hungry…" Luffy groaned, head hanging over the boat's side.

"You wouldn't be if you hadn't eaten all the food earlier." Ace pointed out logically without raising his head from the boat floor.

"If I hadn't eaten the food then, I'd have been hungry then." Luffy pointed out.

"Yeah, but then we wouldn't be hungry now." Zoro rebutted from his position leaning on the mast. Ace chuckled.

"My brother never thinks ahead, do you Luffy?" he asked Luffy, without turning his head to look at the boy.

Luffy didn't speak, but just nodded his agreement with his older sibling. Ace smiled without opening his eyes.

"Oi, Captains," Zoro asked, putting emphasis on the plural, "How is it that neither of you have any navigation ability?"

Luffy raised his head to answer the First Mate's question.

"Neither of us ever had any traditional teaching – we never attended school, we never even had a real tutor for any subject." Luffy explained, unexpectedly serious. "Our other brother, Sabo, is the only one of us who ever had any education, so he's our designated navigator, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, he…got a bit lost."

The last part of the last sentence was whispered in shame. Ace started laughing quietly.

"Got a bit lost? More like thrown half-way across East Blue in one of your temper tantrums!" Ace's laughter grew in volume and magnitude, until he was finally writhing on the floor in hysterics, pounding the wood in an attempt to calm himself.

Luffy pouted, but Ace's laughter was infectious, and he soon started chuckling himself, while Zoro just looked at the two in utter confusion.

"Temper tantrum?" the swordsman asked carefully. Luffy nodded.

"You know how I said that I ate the **Hito Hito no Mi: Moderu Susanōo**?" he asked, to which Zoro nodded in response. "Well, that **Akuma no Mi** lets me create and control storms. Unfortunately, when I get angry, I lose control, which is what separated the three of us."

"I see…" Zoro said slowly. "Remind me to never piss you off."

Luffy just laughed, when suddenly a breeze picked up and lifted his hat off of his head.

"My hat!" he called, reaching out to grab it, but the wind just it carried overboard. "Oi, oi, oi, who gave you permission?"

Standing up, Luffy suddenly breathed in deeply through his nose, causing the wind to reverse and his hat be blown back to him. Sticking it on his head, Luffy sat back down and grinned, while Ace just shook his head, smiling.

"What's so special about that hat, anyway?" Zoro asked curiously.

Luffy laughed.

"It's the symbol of a promise…"

_Flashback to 10 years ago_

_"Shanks, let me join your crew!" Luffy whined as he sat at the bar, his tiny legs dangling over the edge of the stool he was sitting at._

_A red-haired pirate sitting next to him just roared in laughter, his crew joining in._

_"You're too small, midget! You're just a little brat!" he mocked, causing Luffy to scowl in frustration._

_"I'm not a little brat! I'm 7, I'm a big boy! My punch is as strong as a pistol!" he screamed in cute rage. Shanks burst out in laughter again._

_"Sure it is, kid, sure it is." He shook his head, before calming down. "Here, I'm sorry for laughing at you, want some juice?"_

_Luffy's scowled persisted on his face, before his juice arrived, at which point he just started drinking it noisily. The slurping provoked fresh mirth from the pirates._

_"What kind of adult pirate drinks juice?" Shanks said in between laughs. Luffy scowled again, and slammed the cup of juice down on the bar, spilling a little. Makino came over smiling, and wiped up the mess, when suddenly the fun was interrupted by the door slamming open._

_A group of bandits walked in, led by a large man with a scar over his right eye._

_"What a bunch of sorry pirates." He said loudly as walked up to the bar. "My name is Higuma, and these are my mountain bandit crew. Don't worry, we're not here to mess up the place, we just want 10 barrels of sake. And make it quick."_

_"Sorry, but we're all out at the moment…" Makino replied nervously._

_"Oh? And what are all of these guys drinking? Water?" Higuma asked mockingly._

_"We sold the rest of what we had to them just now." She explained carefully._

_"Ah, that's no good, we emptied you out." Shanks said apologetically to Makino, before turning to look at the bandit. "I have a bottle here, I haven't opened it yet. You can have it if you want."_

_He offered the bottle to the bandit, who moved to take it, before suddenly striking it out of the red-haired pirate's grasp, smashing the bottle and spilling sake all over Shanks and the ground, shattered glass scattering on the floor. _

_"I'm a criminal with an 8,000,000 beli bounty." Higuma said calmly. "One bottle won't be nearly enough."_

_Luffy watched the situation with eyes as wide as saucers, his hands holding the glass of juice tightly._

_Shanks did not respond for a moment, before he got off his stool and bent over to look at the mess._

_"Damn, there's a mess." He muttered before turning to look at Makino. "Do you have a mop in here?"_

_"Ah, I'll clean it up!" Makino replied fearfully, terrified of what the bandit would do next._

_Higuma slowly unsheathed his sword before rapidly and unexpectedly swinging it over the bar, smashing plates and bottles and spilling food all over the floor._

_"Since you like cleaning up so much, why don't you clean this as well?" he said mockingly. "Anyway, since there ain't any booze here, there's no point in us being here. Good bye, cowards!"_

_The last statement was made in the directions of the silent pirate crew, and the snickering band of mountain pirates exited the bar, going back to their mountain._

_Shanks was quiet for a few seconds, before he burst out laughing, followed by his entire crew, as they all roared in laughter._

_"They sure got you god, eh, Captain?" one of his crewmembers asked him through his cackling, Shanks nodding and laughing in agreement. Meanwhile, Luffy just grew more and more enraged, before finally bursting._

_"You guys aren't real pirates!" he screamed, causing all of the pirates to end their merriment and look at him in surprise. "You could have easily beat him up, why didn't you!? Why did you let him insult you?!_

_Shanks was silent before finally responding._

_"It's just a bit of food and booze, Luffy – that's not something to get worked up over. We KNOW that's he's weak, we KNOW that we could beat him with our pinky fingers. We just don't NEED to." He explained. "You won't understand this for a while, so just sit quietly."_

_In a huff, Luffy just folded his arms, before realizing that he was hungry. Looking around, he spotted a small purple box bearing the mark of Shanks' pirate crew with a fruit on it. Deciding to spite the annoying captain, he reached in and put the fruit in his mouth._

_"Ew! Nasty!" he screamed tasting the disgusting food. Shanks was instantly next to him, turning him over and shaking him by the legs, forcing him to spit out the fruit._

_"Idiot!" Shanks yelled, bonking him upside the head after setting him back on the stool. "That's an __**Akuma no Mi! **__If you'd have eaten that, you'd have gained strange powers, but you would have never been able to swim again in your life! And since when do you just eat random stuff that doesn't even belong to you!? It could have been poisonous!"_

_Through all of the screaming, Luffy understood that Shanks was worried about him, and felt sorry for causing the man pain._

_"I'm sorry Shanks." Luffy sobbed._

_"Idiot." Shanks said, hugging the boy to himself. "Don't scare me like that ever again."_

* * *

_"You're just a no-good bandit and a bully! Shanks could kick your ass with his arms and legs tied behind his back!" Luffy shouted at the leader of the bandits from under the foot of said leader. "You're nothing compared to him!"_

_"Man, we were having such a good time drinking sake…why'd you have to come and ruin it?" Higuma complained lazily._

_"Shut up! You don't deserve to make fun of Shanks and his crew! You're just a worthless bandit!" Luffy grunted out, trying to get the boot off of him._

_Higuma's face darkened, and he reached for his sword, drawing it out in a slow and smooth motion._

_"You've pissed me off kid." He said in a low, ominous voice. "I make it a rule to never let anyone who's pissed me off go."_

_Grabbing Luffy by the throat, he lifted him in the air, lining up his sword to chop off the kid's head._

_"Wait! Please!" he suddenly heard a voice call. Turning around, he saw the mayor of the village panting in exertion, his hands on his knees. "Please, don't kill that boy! We have money, we can pay you!"_

_"Your elder is wise…" Higuma said thoughtfully, before smiling cruelly. "But that time is long since past!"_

_Drawing back his sword, the bandit leader prepared to lop off Luffy's head, when he was stopped by another shout, this time in a more familiar voice._

_"Oi, what're you doing there? Now I know why there wasn't anyone in the bar." Shanks said cheerfully._

_"You…" Higuma growled._

_"Shanks!" Luffy muttered in hope._

_"Luffy, didn't you say that your punch was as strong as a pistol? How'd you let yourself get caught?" Shanks asked, smiling and walking toward the boy._

_"I don't know why you're here, but if you take one more step, it's gonna be painful for you, coward." Higuma threatened. Shanks continued walking, but stopped when he heard a cocking sound next to his temple. Turning his head, he saw one of the mountain bandits holding a pistol to his head._

_"He said don't take another step, coward." The bandit mocked. Shanks smiled, and tapped the barrel of the gun._

_"Bet your life on this." He said, stroking the pistol's __muzzle._

_"Heh?" the bandit asked in confusion._

_"This isn't a toy you're playing with here. That's a weapon. It's designed to kill. When you take it into your hand, you bet your life on it." Shanks said, continuing to smile._

_"Shut up!" the bandit said, cocking the gun. "You say another word and I put a bullet in your skull!"_

_However, he didn't get to fulfill his threat. There was a sound of thunder, and the man fell down as if his legs were cut off under him, revealing Lucky Roo holding a pistol with smoke coming out of its barrel._

_"H-he just shot him!" one of the bandits murmured in shock. "That's not even fair!"_

_"Fair?" Shanks asked mockingly. "You're not dealing with shepherds or priests here, bandits. You're dealing with pirates. We don't do fair."_

_Higuma snarled soundlessly._

_"Men, we outnumber them!" he shouted. "Get them!"_

_As one, the bandits drew their swords and charged at the smaller pirate group._

_"I'll handle this." Said Ben Beckmann, unstrapping his rifle and grabbing it by the barrel. A few whacks were heard, and fairly soon all of the bandits were lying on the ground, unconscious or dead. Higuma stepped back and grabbed Luffy._

_"Wait, I'm just a bandit! I'm not going to hurt you, don't kill me! Why are you even doing this, we didn't do anything to you!" he implored._

_Shanks' face turned grim._

_"You can spill food or sake on me, you can insult me, you can even spit on me, and I'll laugh the loudest of all. But the moment you hurt or threaten one of my friends, I'll gut you like the spineless worm you are." Shanks explained grimly. Higuma seemingly cowered, before grinning and throwing down a smoke bomb._

_"What? Where'd they go?" Shanks yelled, now clueless as to what to do. "What do we do, what do we do?!"_

_"If we split up, we should find them quickly!" Makino said, thinking on her feet._

* * *

_"Heh, they'd never expect a bandit to take refuge in a boat!" Higuma boasted, proud of his own wit._

_"Shut up! You should just die, you stupid mountain monkey!" Luffy screamed, trying to escape from the bandit's grasp._

_"Heh, you're the one that's going to die, brat." Higuma said cruelly. "You're of no use to me anymore! Bye!"_

_The man threw the hapless boy into the water, where he landed and began to thrash, doing his best to stay afloat. Higuma began to laugh at seeing the boy's efforts, not noticing the swelling water behind him. By the time he realized something was wrong and turned his head to look, it was too late, and he along with his boat were already in the mouth of the Lord of the Coast, who then turned his attention to Luffy. Diving underwater, the Sea King quickly swam towards the boy, and within a matter of seconds lunged at him, but was surprised to feel only an arm in his mouth. Turning its head after the lunge, the Sea King saw Shanks holding Luffy to himself with one arm. The red-haired pirate the turned to look at the Lord of the Coast._

_"Get lost." Were the two simple words that came out of the pirate's mouth, but the expression on his face, along with a certain other quality was enough to drive the Sea King away._

_"It seems I owe you, Luffy." Shanks said quietly. "Makino told us that you were fighting because you were supporting us."_

_"I'm sorry Shanks! I'm so sorry!" Luffy sobbed, clutching himself to the now one-armed pirate._

_"Hey, hey, aren't you a man? Why are you crying?" Shanks said with a smile on his face._

_"Y-your arm!" Luffy said through tears, gesturing at the stump of Shanks' former arm._

_"It's just an arm. I've got another one." Shanks said, grinning slightly. "I'm just happy you're safe."_

_Luffy merely continued to cry._

_As Shanks' crew was loading up the rest of the cargo onto the boat, he was sharing his last goodbye with Luffy._

_"I'm not going to ask you to let me join your crew this time." Luffy said seriously. "I've decided that I'm going to become a pirate on my own, and make my own crew."_

_Shanks stuck his tongue out at the boy._

_"Neh! As if I'd have let you join!" he teased. "Besides, you become a pirate? Suuuuuuuuure."_

_"I am SO going to become a pirate, and my crew is going to beat up your crew!" Luffy said angrily. "And then we're going to find the ultimate treasure, and I will become the Pirate King!"_

_Shanks didn't reply, but merely gazed at the little boy, who reminded him so much of his former captain._

_"You're going to beat my crew?" he said solemnly. "In that case, I should give you this."_

_At this, the man took off the straw hat that was always on his head, and placed it on the boy's head instead._

_"This hat is very important to me. Take good care of it." Shanks whispered. "When we meet again, when you're strong, give it back to me."_

_Tears started to leak out of Luffy's eyes from under the hat, but he did not make a sound._

_"It's a promise…" the pirate's last words before setting out echoed in his head. "It's a promise, Luffy!"_

_End Flashback_

"Oi, if you keep spacing out, you're going to lose it again." Zoro said, looking at his younger captain.

"Eheheh…" Luffy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ah…I'm so hungry…" Ace groaned. Zoro merely nodded in agreement, while Luffy looked up to the skies.

"Oi…look at that!" he pointed up, and looking up, the other two pirates saw a large bird flying over them. "Get us under that bird!"

Zoro and Ace exchanged looks, before Ace shrugged, and the two paddled until they were directly under the bird. Luffy stood up and pointed his arm at the flying creature.

"**Rakurai! (Lightning Strike)" **Luffy shouted, as a bolt of lightning left his fingers and hit the bird in a fraction of a second, instantly frying it to a crisp. Soundlessly, it plummeted to the sea, but Zoro's quick catch saved it from falling into the water.

The three pirates gazed at the downed creature with drool coming out of their mouths.

"Already cooked…" Ace said hungrily.

"Let's dig in!" Luffy exclaimed, and the trio attacked their lunch ravenously.

After their delicious meal, the pirates' boat soon came across another boat, stranded in the water. In it they saw three other pirates, who waved their arms to call the other boat over. When they pulled alongside the stranded boat, the three stranded pirates attempted to take over Luffy, Ace, and Zoro's boat, but that was quickly stopped.

A few quick hits, as well as generous application of lightning and swords soon had the three would-be attacked paddling the boat. Within about a half-hour of feverish paddling, the group was at an island…

* * *

Meanwhile, a certain orange-haired girl was trying to quickly escape the wrath of the Buggy Pirates after stealing a very important map.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed as she ran. "All this over one little map?!"

"Get back here! If you we don't get that map back, we're screwed!" one of the pirates chasing her yelled in terror. "I don't wanna die by the captain's cannon!"

The little marathon led all the way to the harbor, where Nami prepared to jump on her boat, when she saw three men disembarking a ship that had just made port. She stopped suddenly, with the pursuing pirates stopping with her.

"We've got you now!" one of them yelled, as he attacked the motionless girl. However, his charge was stopped by a thunderbolt striking him, throwing him back a few meters, and the electric power knocking him out.

"W-what?!" another pirate screamed in terror in surprise, before turning to see Luffy, his face shadowed, and his finger pointing at the downed pirate.

"I really don't like it when people attack women…" he said lowly. "You guys have 30 seconds to get out of my sight before you all end up crispy."

Another pirate, overestimating his own strength, attacked Luffy, who smiled coldly.

"You're not worth a thunderbolt…** Kaminari-kyū (Thunder Ball)!"** he yelled, hurling a ball of lightning at the pirate, electrocuting the hapless marauder to unconsciousness or death, before turning to look at the last marauder. "You wanna try me? You still have 15 seconds to get lost."

The remaining pirate all dropped his weapons and ran, eager to get out of the way.

The girl turned to her mysterious benefactor, and got a good look at him, as well as his companions. He was about average height, 5'9, maybe 5'10. A red sleeveless shirt, buttoned down, and blue shorts, and he had a straw hat on his head. The second member was stranger; while he also wore a hat, it was a fedora. He was also taller – at least 6'1, but he wore no shirt, and had the word ACE tattooed on his upper left bicep. Black, knee-length shorts clothed his legs. The last member flat-out had green hair, but was otherwise the most normal, excepting the three swords at his side.

"Ummm…thanks for saving my life." She said to the group. The straw-hat boy chuckled, the one she assumed was called Ace smiled, while the swordsman didn't respond.

"Why exactly were those guys chasing you anyway?" her savior asked curiously. "Oh, wait, before you say anything, I'm Luffy. He's Ace, and he's Zoro."

The last sentenced was accompanied by pointing in the direction of the shirtless boy and the swordsman, respectively.

"Nice to meet you all. As to why they were chasing me, I'm a thief that steals from pirates, they're the Buggy Pirates, you do the math." She replied.

"What did you steal?" Ace asked. In response, the girl pulled the map out from her shirt, getting a look of interest from all three men.

"This is a map of the Grand Line." She explained, before quietly whispering the last part. "With it, getting 100,000,000 beli isn't that hard."

Unfortunately, the swordsman heard her.

"100,000,000 beli? What do you need with all that money?" he asked suspiciously.

"Secret." She responded, sticking out her tongue. "Oh, by the way, my name's Nami. Nice to meet you!"

Luffy grinned, Ace smiled slightly, while Zoro just grunted. Just then, a thought seemed to strike Luffy.

"Wait, you have a map. Does that mean you're a navigator?" he asked enthusiastically.

"A navigator? I'm the best damn navigator in the world!" Nami boasted.

"Great! You should join our crew as a navigator!" Luffy offered.

"Oi, Luffy. You're supposed to run that by me first, and besides, Sabo's our navigator!" Ace complained.

"Oh, come off it. Sabo doesn't really want to be navigator; he just does it because neither of us can." Luffy argued. Ace couldn't fault that logic, so he just sighed.

"Crew? What are you guys?" Nami asked in curiosity and apprehension.

"We're pirates." Came the reply from Ace.

"Not joining." Nami flatly said. "I hate pirates most in the world."

"Eh? What's so bad about them?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"They're evil. All they care about is causing chaos and hurting people." Nami bitterly answered. Luffy shrugged.

"Well, I like causing chaos, but I don't particularly go out of my way to hurt people." He responded thoughtfully. "Does that mean I'm not a real pirate?"

Ace laughed, but suddenly a massive growl sounded from all three pirates' stomachs.

"Oh…I remembered…I'm still hungry." Luffy moaned, falling to his knees. Nami just shook her head in amusement.

"As thanks, why don't I treat you guys to lunch?" She offered.

"Really?" Ace and Luffy were suddenly prostrated at her feet.

"Y-yeah…" she said weakly, not expecting the passionate response.

"You're a lifesaver, Nami!" Ace cried in mock joy. Zoro shook his head at his captains' antics, but followed them as they entered a random house.

* * *

"What?! He killed two of my men?! How?!" an irate, red-nosed pirate captain screamed at his subordinate from under a tent. The subordinate cowered in terror of his master, and begged the gods to let him survive his rage.

"H-he could throw lightning from his hands! I d-don't know h-how!" he tried to explain, stammering from fear. This statement caused Buggy to lose steam.

"Throw lightning from his hands?" he asked calmly. "Interesting. Another person with the power of the **Akuma no Mi… **If he could be convinced to join our crew…"

The clown-pirate began to hum as he thought of the possibilities.

"You!" he pointed at another crewmember. "Bring that man to me, along with anyone with him. Do not do anything to anger him or his companions! If you do, I'll have your head!"

"Yes sir! I will not fail you!" the man quickly saluted, and ran off in search of the man.

Meanwhile, the three pirates along with Nami were all sitting in the dining room of the house, with Ace and Luffy chowing down on enormous sandwiches.

"So, you live here all alone?" Luffy asked after chewing and swallowing.

Nami shook her head "No, I don't live here at all. This town has been taken over by Buggy the Clown, and all of the townspeople have fled."

Luffy nodded in comprehension. "Yeah, that'd make sense."

"In any case, what are you going to do now?" Zoro asked suddenly.

Nami was taken a bit aback by the direct question. "I don't see how that's any of your business, but I'm going to go into the Grand Line, and find treasure."

Ace nodded.

"Always a noble cause." He joked. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, before it carefully opened, and a lone pirate stepped in with caution.

"Ummm…Captain Buggy asks to see you." he said delicately. "All of you."

Luffy exchanged glances with Ace. "Could be fun."

* * *

"So, you're the guy that killed two of my men, eh?" Buggy asked the assembled group. "Together with the thief that stole my property…very interesting."

Luffy cracked his neck absent-mindedly. "Sorry about that. I just really don't like it when people attack girls."

Buggy grinned. "Very chivalrous of you. But in any case, I have a proposal for you. According to my information, you have consumed an **Akuma no Mi**, is that correct."

"Mhm." Luffy grunted.

"That makes us two of a kind. I have also consumed an **Akuma no Mi. **The two of us are a class above human. Why don't we join forces? Join my crew, and we could become the greatest pirates ever." Buggy offered.

Luffy shook his head. "No can do. I promised Shanks that I would become the Pirate King, and I can't do that as a subordinate to anyone. Sorry. Besides, I'm already captain of my own crew, small though it may be at the moment."

"Shanks…" Buggy said slowly, as his face darkened. "Shanks of the Red Hair?"

"Y-yeah." Luffy said, confused why this was provoking such a reaction from the clown.

"I HATE SHANKS!" Buggy screamed in rage. "Because of him, I have lost the ability to swim! It's his fault that I have this curse upon me!"

"Eh?" Luffy asked. Buggy calmed down a bit.

"He and I…we used to cabin boys on the same ship. One day, I found an **Akuma no Mi. **I planned to consume it later, but because of that infernal Red-Hair, I ate it when I didn't mean to! I cannot swim, and now I cannot obtain the treasures of the sea!" Buggy explained angrily.

"Ah…I see. So, you're kind of an idiot, Big Nose." Ace said calmly.

"What did you say about my nose?!" Buggy screamed, before breathing in a few times. "So, you refuse my offer, yes?"

"Sorry, yeah." Luffy nodded.

"That's a shame…" Buggy said quietly. "Because now you have to die!"

All at once, the entire Buggy Pirates crew charged at the small group of 4. Ace then stepped forward.

"Luffy, you've been getting to do all of the fighting, it's my turn now." He said lazily, before turning to look at the charging mass. Raising his foot from the ground, he then stamped down hard, and said: "**Erebasu no Kawa (River of Erebus)."**

The attackers stopped to look down at the ground, realizing that for some reason their feet felt very hot. They immediately realized that the reason for that was the fact that the stone that they were standing on, leading up all the way to Ace was no longer stone – it was molten magma. A few seconds later, they finally reacted.

"Aiiiii! Hothothothothothothot!" the screamed, and jumped off of the river of lava, their feet now sporting 3rd degree burns. Tumbling to the ground, they now presented an easy target for Ace.

"**Hiken (Fire Fist)!" **he yelled, forming a fist made of fire in front of himself, and hurling it at the prone group of pirates. The moment it struck, it exploded in a great ball of flame and force, hurling the now-crispy pirates off to places unknown. (Probably various parts of the town)

Meanwhile, all Buggy could do was stare in openmouthed amazement, as he realized that Ace had also consumed the **Akuma no Mi**. Zoro, seeing the pirate captain not paying attention, decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

"You should really not space out in the middle of a fight." He said, as he drew his swords and attacked. "**Oni Giri! (Demon Slash)"**

Having placed the blades in his arms diagonally perpendicular to each other on his chest, and his mouth-sword horizontal to the ground, the tip facing away from him, the swordsman sliced with all three blades at once, cutting Buggy into 3 separate pieces. The remains of Buggy fell to the floor, as Nami looked on in horror.

Zoro sheathed his swords, and at the click, Nami screamed in terror.

"Y-you killed him! You didn't have to kill him!" she whispered. Unseen by Zoro, however, one of the pieces was rising from the ground. Suddenly, the cut off arm of Buggy, holding a dagger, flew at the swordsman's back and stabbed him in the side. Zoro grunted in pain, and turned around to face to threat, and was flabbergasted to see Buggy rebuilding himself.

"Gyahahahahahahaha! Gyahahahahaha! You idiot!" Buggy gloated. "Swords have no effect on me, for I have eaten the **Bara Bara no Mi! (Chop-Chop Fruit)"**

Zoro hissed in pain as he pulled the dagger out of his side, while Luffy frowned.

"Y'know, I don't like it when people try to hurt my friends." He said quietly, before placing his feet together, arms raised, and beginning to spin in place. Before Buggy's eyes, a tornado rapidly began to form around the spinning boy.

"Oi, what're you doing there, ballerina?" the pirate mocked, despite the fear he was feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Suddenly, Luffy stopped, spinning, though the tornado continued. Stretching out his hands, he GRABBED the tornado and turned it, so that he was holding it like a drill.

"**Tatsumaki no Jōgo (Tornado Funnel)!" **Luffy yelled, hurling the tornado at the terrified Buggy. The twister pierced the clown pirate and ripped him to shreds, scattering the pieces all over the place, leaving only the head in its original position. Said head then began to laugh.

"Hahahaha! Didn't you learn your lesson? Piercing or slicing attacks can't hurt me!" Buggy laughed, now secure in his superiority. Luffy smirked.

"Yeah, but this might." He said, raising his arm and pointing a finger at the pirate. "**Rakurai (Lightning Strike)!"**

A bolt of lightning left Luffy's fingers and struck the head, electrocuting it and knocking the pirate unconscious. Luffy then turned to look at Zoro and Ace, Nami having disappeared.

"You okay, Zoro?" he asked worriedly. "That looked like it hurt."

Zoro waved it off.

"I've had worse wounds from sparring with wooden swords, I'll be fine. Anyway, where's Nami?" he asked, changing the topic.

"Right here." Said the aforementioned thief, popping up behind the injured swordsman.

Zoro jumped in place. "GAH! Woman, announce your presence before you just pop up!" he scolded.

Nami snickered. "Not that great a swordsman, are you, if you can't even hear little old me sneaking up on you." She then turned to look at Luffy and Ace. "Anyway, I was just picking up Buggy's treasure, it could come in handy for our trip."

Ace's ears perked up. "OUR trip? Does that mean you're joining us?" he asked, hiding his enthusiasm.

Nami nodded. "Yeah, for the time being. You guys aren't so bad, and as powerful as you are, we'll probably be running into lots of powerful enemies, which means more treasure for us to get." She grinned at the thought.

"Yatta!" Luffy cheered. "Come on, let's load up the stuff onto the boat and get going!"

"Wait, Luffy." Ace said, as the cheerful expression on his face slid off, and he sat down. "A scant hour ago, you were saying that you hated pirates most in the world, and now you want to join us. I get that you have material reasons for joining us, but why do you hate pirates so much? What did they do to you?"

Nami looked down, before replying. "It doesn't matter."

Luffy shrugged. "Well, when you want to tell us, we'll be here. We're not going to pry, but we're ready when you are."

Nami nodded. "Okay."

Changing the topic, and speaking for the first time, Zoro said, "In any case, did you guys see that big ship? I think it belonged to Buggy. I'd wager that there's a bunch of treasure on it – he'd have to be an idiot to take all of it on-shore. I say we raid it, and take everything we find."

Nami grinned. "I like that idea. Let's go!"

The group moved quickly, finding the massive galleon and going through it, collecting any and all money that they could find, as well as anything else they deemed important, before loading it all onto the boat and setting sail.

"Out to sea!" Luffy cried, pointing out at the wide-open expanse of water.

**And that's a wrap! As you may have noticed, this chapter is a tad shorter than the previous one, but that's because at the moment, Buggy is a weaker opponent. Generally speaking, they should all be around 8,000 words. In other news, next chapter is the Syrup Village Arc!**

**Also, starting from this chapter, I am going to put a counter as to amount of treasure that the Straw Hats have obtained. In this chapter they got at least 1,000,000 beli (I'm saying more since they also raided Buggy's ship).**

**Current Counter: 2,000,000 beli.**

**Cya guys next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everybody. This isn't an update, as you can tell, but rather an AN. The next chapter will not be going up on the 11th, but rather sometime between the 18th and the 25th, because I will be getting home from the 10th to the 12th, and once I get home I need to urgently finish summer assignments, including reading 1984, writing an essay about it, then reading 4 more essays, and doing stupid shit for them, so, all in all, a waste of my time, but I gotta do it. Sorry guys, but, just as a heads up, I have almost all of chapter 5 finished and will start chapter 6 the moment I finish all my summer work. Cya guys soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Heya guys, been a long time, eh? Well, I'm back!**

**Okay, so, chapter three of Gods of War! This chapter, and possibly next chapter as well, we will be covering the Syrup Village Arc! Yay! I'm trying to get through East Blue quickly, while still covering everything that needs to be covered. Also, this arc we get TWO new(ish) crewmembers!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Speech – "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

_Thoughts – 'I'm going to be the Pirate King!'_

**Technique – "Gomu Gomu no…Mushi!" (Gum-Gum Whip)**

_**Letters/Notes/Anything written – 'Welcome to Saobody Archipelago!'**_

"Namiii!" Luffy whined. "Where are we going and when are we going to be there?"

"Shut up! Stop whining!" Nami ordered angrily. "For the last time, we're going to the Gecko Islands, and we should be there within the hour. Now, go and do something useful!"

Luffy pouted, but went up into the crow's nest so that he could be the first to spot the island when it appeared.

Meanwhile, Ace walked up to Nami, who looked at him suspiciously.

"And how are you planning on annoying me?" she asked wearily. Ace chuckled.

"I'm not. I was just thinking that we should make a list of stuff that we need to get at the island." He explained.

Nami nodded. "That's actually a good idea. Let's see…well, we need an actual ship, supplies…and probably some more crew members."

Ace shook his head at the last one. "We don't just get random people for our crew. We're not like other pirates. Each crew member is carefully picked after long observation."

"That's why your brother asked me to join you guys after about 10 minutes?" Namis sardonically asked.

"Hehe…heh…" Ace guiltily chuckled. "Luffy has always been a bit…dumb. But he always sees the potential in people. Also, we really needed a navigator."

"Oh, so that's what I am to you guys? Just a navigator?" Nami teased.

Ace shook his head frantically. "No, not at all! You're a crewmember and a friend!"

Nami laughed. "Relax, I'm just yanking your chain. Anyway, get to the wheel, and turn it 30 degrees to the right.

Ace saluted. "Will do boss!"

* * *

Meanwhile, a certain long-nosed lying boy was running through town.

"Pirates! Pirates are coming!" he screamed, injecting fear into his voice.

"What? Where? Pirates?!" townspeople flooded out of their homes in response to the screams. "Where are the pirates? What do they want?"

The group was screaming at the long-nose for answers, when the boy suddenly stuck out his tongue and pulled down his cheek under his eye.

"Kidding!" he yelled. The group slowly stopped screaming and began grumbling.

"Of course he is…that Usopp. He never tells the truth, he just lies. What a worthless brat…" was the general tone and content of the grumbling as the townspeople slowly went back about their business. Usopp laughed heartily at the prank, and ran off.

On the outskirts of the town, the long-nosed boy met with some children.

"That was fun, eh, Piiman, Ninjin?" Usopp laughed. The children joined him in laughing, and were so distracted that they didn't notice another kid come running out of the forest.

"Oi, Tamanegi, what's wrong?" one of the little boys asked the panting newcomer. Standing straight, the new boy responded.

"P-pirates! Real pirates! There are real pirates here!" he screamed in fear.

Usopp chuckled. "Tamanegi, come on. We're not the villagers; don't try tricking US. A+ for effort though."

"I'm serious though! They have a pirate flag and everything! They've shown up on the north side of the island!" Tamanegi cried.

Usopp's eyebrows shot into his hair, and his mouth opened a tad. "R-r-r-real pirates? There are…real pirates? Here? In Syrup Village?"

Tamanegi nodded shakily. Usopp drew in a shuddering sigh.

"Well, I think this is as good a time as any to get a snack, don't you think?" He offered weakly.

"Captain!" all three children yelled at once.

"Guess not…" Usopp replied sadly.

"Captain, we should come out and meet them! We can try to scare them off or something!" Piiman said in a stroke of inspiration.

"Piiman, we're 3 little boys and a long-nosed teenager. We're not going to scare off a crew of hardened evil pirates!" Usopp reasoned.

"Actually, they were in a small boat, so they might be not that strong, or there might be few of them!" Tamanegi spoke up. This sent Usopp into a thinking pose.

"Hmmmmm…we know that we're weak…but they don't have to." He said thoughtfully, before beckoning the 3 boys over. "Here's what we're going to do."

* * *

"We're here! Finally!" cheered Luffy as the boat dropped anchor and the crew jumped off, heading to shore, when they were suddenly greeted with the sight of dozens of pirate flags rising out of the bushes, and the sound of a voice ringing out.

"Stop! This island is the territory of the Usopp Pirates! Leave now, or my 80,000,000 men will tear you to shreds!" the voice threatened, though if one listened closely, one would hear a hint of fear trying to not be noticed. Nami looked at the flags skeptically.

"Really? 80,000,000? Then why are only 3 of the flags moving? And why do 80,000,000 men have about…oh, let me see…24 flags?" Nami said, eyebrow raised in a mocking gesture. "Next time you lie, try to make it more believable."

"Crap! Captain! She saw through our awesome lie!" a tinny voice sounded from one of the bushes.

"Run away! Run away from the pirates!" another voice, equally high, responded. Then, there was a sound of 3 pairs of feet trying to get as far as they could from the crew. All of the sudden, a long-nosed man walked up onto the cliff holding a slingshot, and rapidly fired two pachinko balls into the sand next to Luffy as warning shots.

"I am Captain Usopp! Leader of the Usopp Pirates! As you can see, my skill with a slingshot is better than that of most men with pistols!" he tried to pontificate, but was betrayed by his knees knocking together in fear. "I am Usopp the Proud! Usopp the Fearless! Leave now, or you will face my wrath!"

Gazing at the boy aiming at them with the slingshot, Luffy tilted his hat so that a shadow fell on his face.

"Since we're talking about pistols…bet your life on it." He said quietly.

"Huh?" Usopp asked in confusion.

"That's not a toy you're holding, that's a weapon. When you choose to use it, you bet your life on it. Are you willing to do that?" Luffy responded, and flicked his eyes to look at Ace and Zoro. Zoro smirked, and walked in front of Luffy.

"This is a real pirate you're dealing with, not a shepherd." He said ominously.

"And my brother isn't very nice." Ace continued.

"So…are you willing to bet your life on that weapon?" they said together. Usopp maintained his calm and powerful demeanor for all of 5 seconds under the combined brunt of Zoro, Ace, and Luffy's glares before breaking down.

"So that's a real pirate speech…it's so scary…" Usopp muttered, falling to his knees.

Zoro and Luffy traded glances, Ace starting to chuckle, before suddenly all three began to laugh uproariously. Usopp stared at them in confusion.

"I just copied that speech from a friend of mine." Luffy said through laughs. "Shanks was the guy who actually made it."

"Shanks?! As in 'Red-Haired' Shanks?! The legendary pirate?!" Usopp squeaked.

Luffy smiled. "Mhm. By the way…Yasopp, isn't it?"

Usopp's face contorted into a shocked expression.

"That's the name of your dad." Luffy continued, as his smile grew into a full-fledged grin.

The shock that was shown on Usopp's face finally had an effect on the rest of his body, and he tumbled off of the cliff with a cry of surprise.

"You know my dad?!" Usopp cried, having finally righted himself.

"Yeah." Luffy replied, still grinning. "I met him when Shanks' crew stayed in my town for a year. I remember; all he could do was talk about how great his son was and how much he missed you."

Usopp was beaming in happiness from hearing of his father. "Hey, guys, you wanna come into town? There's a good tavern there where you could get some food."

Luffy's eyes became as big as plates. "Food!? I'm in! Let's go!"

Ace chuckled, while Zoro and Nami just shook their heads in resignation as the group made their way into town and into a small bar where they sat down and ordered drinks and food.

Luffy continued to regale Usopp with stories of Yasopp, alternatively making him either smile in pride or laugh uncontrollably at the funny incidents that the older sniper got himself into.

Finally, after Luffy's flood of tales ended, Usopp finally took charge of the conversation. "So, what are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Well, first of all, we need a ship. Preferably one bigger than a boat." Nami said. "You wouldn't happen to know a place here where we could get one, would you?"

Usopp shook his head, indicating the negative. "There's nobody here where you could get a ship from, nobody here has that type of money."

Zoro started suspiciously. "What about that huge mansion on top of the hill? It looks well looked-after, and a house as big as that has to belong to someone very rich."

Usopp's eyes widened imperceptibly, as he got up quickly. "Well, look at the time, I actually have to go. I have an appointment that I can't miss!"

Quickly, the long-nosed boy ran out of the bar and into the forest, disappearing without a trace.

* * *

A teenaged girl sat up in her bed and yawned cutely.

"Klahadore! Are you there?" she called. Immediately, a tall butler in glasses appeared in her doorway, fixing his spectacles with the palm of his hand.

"What can I do for you, mistress Kaya?" the man asked calmly.

"May I have some breakfast please?" she asked politely, smiling beatifically at the butler.

The servant bowed. "At once, mistress."

Within the next 10 minutes, the girl was served a proper continental breakfast – several cheeses, cold meats, a multitude of sliced fruits, a croissant, a cup of coffee, and all of it served in bed. It must be good to be rich and noble…

"Do you think that Usopp-san is going to come over today?" Kaya asked, sipping her tea daintily.

Klahadore fixed his glasses with the palm of his hand again, and adopted a serious expression on his face. "I would hope not, mistress. That boy is a good-for-nothing little liar, and a hooligan. He is detrimental to your well-being, and is most likely a major cause of your slow recovery. In fact, I forbid you from seeing him, mistress. His dangerous schemes will eventually get himself or others hurt, and I do not wish for you to associate with that."

"Klahadore, I don't really think that you should be forbidding me from doing anything. I am the mistress, you know." Kaya replied, looking upset and a tad annoyed.

"Yes ma'am, but when your father died, he asked me to take care of you. Allowing that rowdy brat into your presence goes against that – he is not beneficial to you. As such, I will not allow him here." He said, never changing his facial expression

Kaya sighed. "I understand, Klahadore, though I hope that one day you'll see the good in him…he really is harmless, you know."

"As you say, mistress." The butler replied stonily. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must go and complete my chores."

Kaya nodded, and Klahadore exited the room. As the girl was lying back down on her pillow, she heard a whisper.

"Psst! Psst! Kaya!"

Kaya looked around furiously, before realizing that the source of the sound was the window.

"Who's there?" she asked, slightly afraid, as she stuck her head out of the window.

Suddenly, a long-nosed face popped up from a tree branch, followed by the face's body. "It's me, Usopp!"

"Ah, Usopp-san!" Kaya said in delight. "But, what are you doing here? If Klahadore catches you, you'll be in big trouble!"

Usopp laughed. "Well, he'll have to catch me first! But, for now, I have a story I wanna tell you!"

Kaya nodded enthusiastically, and settled in.

* * *

"Oi, you four! Where's Captain Usopp!?" the group heard a shrill voice exclaim as they finished their meals. The voice was then joined by three little boys. The same three little boys, in fact, that so bravely ran away (away).

"Eh? Who the hell are you?" Zoro asked in irritation, turning his head to look at the brats interrupting his alcohol consumption.

"We're Tamanegi, Piiman, and Ninjin! We're the Usopp Pirates! Now, tell us what you've done with the captain!" another of the little boys yelled, brandishing a wooden sword.

In response, Luffy kicked his chair back, put his legs on the table, and rubbed his belly. "Ah, that was some good meat. And there was a lot of it too... Although, I wish it had been a bit younger. Younger is always more tender…wouldn't you say, Ace?"

Ace grinned sadistically. "Yeah, you're right bro…although this was also pretty damn good."

The three boys' eyes grew to the size of saucers as their weapons clattered to the ground. "C-c-cannibals!"

"Cannibals? We're not cows!" Luffy said in indignation.

"C-cows?" the one called Piiman said carefully.

"Yeah! We ate some steaks! What the hell are you talking about, cannibals? Are you crazy or something?!" Ace asked, trying his best to contain his sniggers.

"So…you didn't eat Captain Usopp?" Tamanegi asked slowly. At this, the pirate crew lost control and all started roaring with laughter, Luffy laughing loudest of all. The three children first grew red with embarrassment and annoyance at the prank, but then began to laugh with the rest of the gang.

"Oi!" they suddenly heard a voice call.

Luffy twisted his head rapidly in the direction of the sound.

"Who's there?" he asked, as he stared at a shadowed figure drinking a glass of sake.

"Well, that's nice. What a great way to greet a brother who you threw half-way across the bloody ocean in one of your temper tantrums." The figure said as he stood up and walked up to the group.

"Sabo!" Ace greeted, standing up as well and hugging the other man, where he was quickly joined by Luffy. Nami and Zoro then got a good look at the third brother – he was about the same height and build as Luffy, but his left eye had a scar on it. His hair was blonde, and slightly longer, and where Ace and Luffy went for lighter clothes, this boy was wearing full-length pants, a black vest, white shirt, and blue cravat. Completing the look was a hat of his own – a top hat, to be exact, with a pair of goggles on it.

"So, how long have you been here?" Luffy asked, finally getting off of his brother.

"Bout a week. I washed up here after being at sea for a fortnight or so, and I've been recovering my strength since then." Sabo answered, before turning to look at Zoro and Nami. "So, who are they?"

"That's Zoro and that's Nami." Luffy said, pointing at the corresponding pirates. "Zoro is our swordsman, and Nami is our navigator."

"I thought I was the navigator?" Sabo asked jokingly.

"You were, but Nami's better." Ace said, grinning. Sabo shrugged, he didn't really want to be a navigator anyway.

"So, this is your third brother?" Zoro asked skeptically. Luffy nodded.

"Yeah, he's the smart one, and the third captain." Luffy turned to look at Sabo. "Speaking of which, now that the three of us are together again, we need a name and a flag. That will be our number 2 priority after getting a ship."

"You guys haven't gotten a ship yet?" Sabo asked.

"We were a bit busy…Marines and other pirates got in the way of business." Luffy said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Sabo sighed, but waved it off as he sat down with the gang.

"So, what are our plans?" he asked the other pirates. Luffy and Ace exchanged glances.

"Well, we were planning on trying to find somebody rich enough to possibly give us a ship. The mansion on the hill seemed like a good place to start." Zoro explained.

"Who lives there anyway?" Nami asked the little boys.

"Oh, that's Kaya-san. Her dad was really, really rich, and when he died he left her everything. Come on, we'll take you to her!" Ninjin replied enthusiastically.

* * *

"So, there I was, just me against this GIANT goldfish! I mean, it was humongous! Its turds were the size of islands!" Usopp said while gesticulating wildly to emphasize his point.

Kaya laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Usopp-san, you can't say that! That's improper!"

"Ahahahaha!" Usopp laughed, when suddenly, he heard the sound of people talking. "Kaya, shh! There's someone coming!"

Hiding in the tree, Usopp watched the gate as the pirate group from before walked up to it, accompanied by the little boys of the Usopp Pirates and a new member.

"Kaya-san's parents died about a year ago, and the grief caused Kaya-san to get sick." Ninjin recounted as the group stood by the gates. "Since then, she's never gotten out of bed. That's why Captain Usopp sneaks off to see her – he tells her funny stories and lies to cheer her up, so that she will get better, faster."

"I see…" Ace said, deep in thought.

"But, the butler, Klahadore, really hates Usopp, and since Kaya-san is bedridden, she can't stop him from preventing Usopp from coming over. I don't think that he's going to let us come inside…" Tamanegi added.

"That ain't gonna stop me, Ace, or Sabo." Luffy boasted. He then turned to look at his brothers. "Come on, let's go."

The three brothers walked up to the tall wall and took identical poses.

"**Harikēn Nagatatsu (Hurricane Boots)!"**

"**Kazan-Kyō (Volcanic Strength)!"**

"**Hikari Ugoki (Light Movement)!"**

The three cries came simultaneously, but had different effects. Under Luffy's feet, a large amount of wind gathered into a pressurized burst, launching him over the tall wall. For Ace, on the other hand, a small volcano formed underneath him, and promptly erupted with massive force, also launching him over the tall wall. Funnily enough, the volcano then flattened back down as if it had never been there. Sabo's move, though, was the strangest. Putting his hands together, he created a ball of light, which then lengthened into a beam, arcing over the wall and onto the ground beyond. Then, he used the beam as a slide to move to the other side of the wall.

"H-he can create volcanoes?" Piiman said in shock, while Tamanegi and Ninjin just tried to adjust to seeing a person move by using a beam of light basically the way a leprechaun uses a rainbow.

Zoro smirked. "Our captains are pretty damn powerful."

"Oi, what the hell are you guys doing here?" Usopp called as he came down from the tree to look at the three captains.

"We wanted to ask Kaya for a ship!" Luffy said enthusiastically.

"What the brat said." Sabo agreed, pointing at the straw hat clad boy, who merely blew a raspberry in return at the top hat-clad pirate.

"You will not be asking Kaya-sama for anything, intruders." The group suddenly heard.

Whirling around, the group saw Klahadore approaching them, a grim look on his face.

"How dare you all enter the grounds of Kaya-sama without permission?!" he asked thunderously.

"Klahadore, it's ok. I'm fine with Usopp-san being here." Kaya tried to defend her friend.

Klahadore shook his head. "Please go back inside, Kaya-sama, I will deal with this…pirate's son."

Turning his attention to Usopp, the butler grimaced. "Why must you continue to pollute Kaya-sama's presence with your filth, you disgusting vermin?"

"Vermin?!" Usopp screeched, as his hands curled into fists.

"Your father was nothing but a lowly, good-for-nothing pirate." Klahadore continued. "It seems fitting that his son should carry on his legacy of worthlessness."

Usopp clenched his teeth and tried desperately to control himself, fearing that if Klahadore did not stop soon, Usopp would lose it.

"He's not even a good pirate. He's not well-known, nobody cares about him. He's just a filthy vagabond who came through this village and knocked up some fool girl, and then abandoned you at the first opportunity."

"SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD!" Usopp screamed, having finally had enough. Cocking back his fist, he charged at the offending butler, and before the servant could react, punched him in the face, knocking him back a few feet and bringing him to the ground.

Klahadore groaned a bit, before sitting up and coughing up some blood. Standing up, the butler fixed his glasses, and stared at the panting Usopp in disdain.

"Nothing but a filthy barbarian, a brute. You are not worth Kaya-sama's time, you should never even had been BORN. You're just a filthy…little…vermin." He hissed.

Usopp breathed in heavily through his nose a few more times, before suddenly turning around and running off, vaulting over the wall and disappearing.

The butler then turned to look at the three pirate captains, scowling. However, he was slightly taken aback at the look on Luffy's face. If Klahadore thought that his own face when he appeared was thunderous, well then, Luffy's was downright equivalent to a hurricane.

"How dare you…insult Usopp!" the boy screamed, raising his arm and preparing to fry the cruel servant, but he was restrained by Ace and Sabo.

"Stop it, Luffy. He's not worth it. Come on, let's go find Usopp." Sabo said commandingly. Slowly, unwillingly, Luffy lowered his arm, and turned around, but not before throwing a final glare in Klahadore's direction.

* * *

Kaya was crying in her room as Klahadore came in, his face now adorned with a bandage in the place where he had bled after the savage blow Usopp had dealt him.

"I brought lunch, Kaya-sama." He said quietly to get her attention. The girl stopped crying for a moment, and motioned for him to place it on her bedside table, before sitting up a bit and looking closely at the butler.

"Klahadore…why are you so cruel to Usopp-san?" she asked through tears. "He's perfectly harmless…"

Klahadore was silent for a moment before responding. "Kaya-sama, do you remember when your father took me in? I was a battered wreck on the streets, barely alive; I hadn't eaten in weeks. And yet, he took me in, he gave me a job, he gave me a LIFE. All he asked in return is that I look after you. When he died…I can't disrespect his memory this way, I can't let that ruffian corrupt you. You are a good girl, Kaya-sama, while that boy is only trouble."

Kaya sighed. "I don't think we'll ever agree on that, Klahadore…but for now, you are dismissed. The butler bowed his head and exited.

* * *

"Oi, who's that weird guy moonwalking all over town?" Tamanegi asked Ninjin and Piiman, as the group of children watched said weird guy dance around, before he suddenly turned around and stared directly at them.

"I'm not weird, and you're rude for saying that." The man said, walking up to them. "I'm just a hypnotist passing by the town."

"Oooooh, a hypnotist?" said Ninjin. "Can you show us something?"

"Why would I show some random brats the fruits of years and years of training and practice?" the man said, darkness gathering on his face.

"Ummm…please?" Piiman said cautiously, afraid of the suddenly angry man.

The man shrugged. "Eh, sure why not."

The three children sweatdropped at the sudden change in attitude, but decided that getting a demonstration was more important than that, before standing up and paying close attention. The hypnotist pulled out a chakram hung on a string and began swinging it like a pendulum before speaking.

"Now, I'm going to say, 'One, Two, Jango!', and then you're going to fall asleep. Understood?" he said, still swinging the pendulum. The three boys nodded. "Excellent. Now, One, Two, Jango!"

As one, the boys toppled to the ground, all three in a deep sleep. Meanwhile, the man chuckled and put the pendulum away. "It's a good thing I finally worked out that bug of it affecting me when I didn't want it to…that would've been a massive pain in a fight. Right, now, he said that he was going to meet me on the northern shore…"

* * *

"Y'know, your dad wasn't a worthless pirate…he was a great pirate." Luffy said, sitting down next to Usopp on the cliff as the pair looked out to the ocean.

"Yeah…I know." Usopp said quietly. "I just can't believe that that stupid butler would make fun of him like that! He's stomping on my pride, on my honor. For no reason at all! I've never even DONE anything to him!"

Luffy hmmm'd. "So, are you going to go see Kaya again?"

Usopp grunted. "Maybe. Maybe if that stupid butler comes and BEGS me to."

"Ah, that butler?" Luffy said, pointing at the coincidentally appearing butler, who was walking on the beach along with the hypnotist from earlier, not noticing the two boys.

Usopp nodded. "Yeah, that butl…WAIT!" he suddenly whisper-screamed. "What is that butler doing here?!"

Just then, Klahadore began to speak, so Luffy and Usopp leaned down to listen.

"Good job not getting noticed at the village, Jango, although the choice to leave the children on the road was strange…" he said calmly. The hypnotist shrugged and smiled.

"I don't stand out, since I'm not weird." He said.

"Oi, who's that weirdo?" Luffy asked Usopp quietly, who made a shushing motion.

"In any case," Klahadore said, fixing his glasses with the palm of his hand, "Are the preparations for the operation (heh, I rhymed) complete?"

Jango nodded. "Yep. The men are ready, the assassination of the lady will go forward as planned."

Usopp was dumbstruck.

"A-a-assassination? They want to assassinate Kaya?!" he whispered in shock.

"Don't say 'assassinate', Jango." Klahadore said, shaking his head. "It sounds much too wicked."

"Of course, of course." Jango said in amusement. "I meant, everything is ready for the ACCIDENT."

"Oi," Luffy said, turning his head to look at Usopp, "What are they talking about?"

"Shut up!" Usopp whispered furiously. "I'm listening cuz I wanna find out!"

"We can't just kill her, Jango." Klahadore explained. "It has to be an accident, otherwise it looks suspicious. Never forget that."

Jango walked over to a large stone and sat down. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, the crew is ready to attack the village at your signal, then the lady has an 'accident', and then you inherit all her wealth. Plan goes ahead perfectly."

Klahadore stopped pacing for a moment before sighing. "Jango, do you ever use that organ inside your head called a BRAIN? How the hell does an unknown OUTSIDER inherit a fortune of a person unrelated to him?"

"Work hard for it!" Jango said upliftingly, making a motion with his arms to indicate hard work.

"Hard work gets you jack shit, Jango, you should know that, being a pirate." Klahadore said in a chastising tone. "Listen, this is the most important part of the plan, the whole reason I needed you to come here. Before we kill her, you must hypnotize her to write a will leaving all her possessions to me, the caretaker Klahadore. Then…then I can claim her inheritance."

The man turned to look at Jango, smiling darkly and fixing his glasses again.

Usopp's eyes were now the size of saucers as he listened to this villainous plot of epic proportions.

"I spent 3 years…3 years gaining the trust of the entire town. Now…the plan is finally coming to a close, and nobody will suspect a thing."

Jango stood up and stretched. "Well, now I finally understand why you chose to become a caretaker… Y'know, if somebody had come to me 4 years ago and told me that the infamous Captain Kuro would quit being a pirate to become a butler, I'da laughed in their faces." The hypnotist put his hand on his hat and began to dance in place slowly. "Although the plan truly is genius…use a look-alike for the Marines to execute so that the world thinks you're dead and escape…no wonder they call you Kuro of a Thousand Plans."

Kuro looked at Jango coldly. "Don't call me by that name, Jango. I disowned it 3 years ago, and I have no use for it. It is a reminder of an older life, one I wish to leave behind me. All I want now is peace and fortune."

"And that's why you killed the old man, right?" Jango said with a smile on his face.

"Oi, oi." Kuro said with a scowl. "I had nothing to do with that, that was just random chance."

"Sure, sure. Well, it's none of my business anyway." Jango looked at Kuro out of the corner of his eye. "In any case, give the order soon. The ship's been anchored here for a week now, and the men have been getting restless."

Luffy and Usopp stared in fear and amazement as they eavesdropped on the conversation. It wasn't every day that you found out about a vast 3-year long plot to kill and take over the fortune of a rich heiress.

"T-this is really bad!" Usopp whispered, still trying to process all of the information he had just heard.

"Oi, what's going on?" Luffy asked Usopp, knocking his sandals together in boredom.

"Didn't you listen to that conversation?!" Usopp whispered harshly. "Captain Kuro…he's one of the smartest and cruelest pirates in the seas. 3 years ago, it was thought that he was executed by Marines, but it turns out he wasn't. Now, he's here to kill Kaya! His crew is going to attack the village!"

A shadow passed over Luffy's face as he tilted his head to look directly at the two pirates below. Slowly, he began to stand up.

"Oi!" Usopp whispered, trying to pull the boy back down. "Don't stand up, they'll see you!"

However, instead of revealing his position as Usopp (and probably the vast majority of the readers) expected him to do, he simply quietly walked away from the cliff, heading back into town. Scrambling to catch up, Usopp followed the silent pirate.

"Oi, what are you doing? We have to think of a way of stopping Klahadore!" he snapped at the still not talking Luffy, who merely shook his head.

"Out of our entire group, the smartest member is Sabo. He'll know what to do." Luffy replied, picking up his pace until he was finally running.

* * *

"Hmmmm…well, the first thing we do is this." At this, Sabo turned to look at Usopp. "Usopp, you cannot, I repeat, you CANNOT attempt to warn Kaya or the village about this."

"WHAT?!" Usopp screeched in rage and surprise. "You want me to not warn them about an attack on their lives?!"

"Tell me, Usopp, who would believe you? You're the town liar, any words you say would be seen as you attempting to besmirch an honorable and well-respected member of the community. It would be utterly pointless, and may get you hurt or thrown in jail. Besides, right now, we have the upper hand – Kuro doesn't know about us having heard his plan. The moment you go and start blabbing, he finds out, and he adjusts his strategy, and then we can't do anything." Sabo explained. "Now, tell me, where did he meet up with Jango?"

"The north shore of the island." Usopp replied, having reluctantly accepted the older boy's reasoning."

Sabo hummed for a bit. "Well then, we better lay a trap on the southern shore."

"Southern shore? But they met on the north shore. Wouldn't it make more sense for the meeting to take place where Jango came from?" Zoro asked in confusion.

"It would. That would also be how most people reasoned. See, here's the thing; Kuro is a genius, strategically speaking. He's well-known for having made plans within plans – contingencies for nigh-every occasion. So, on the off chance that somebody followed him, Kuro wouldn't hold the meeting in the same place that holds the evidence to his plot. Furthermore, if Jango had come from the northern shore, why did he have to walk through the entire village to get to said northern shore in order to meet Kuro?" Sabo shook his head. "No, the ship is at, and the attack is going to come from the southern shore."

Sabo looked at the assembled motley group – Zoro, Luffy, Nami, Ace, Usopp, and himself.

"What are we all good at?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Zapping."

"Frying."

"Slicing."

"Stealing."

"Hiding."

That last reply earned Usopp a blow to the head from Nami, who scowled at the coward.

"If we're going to stop this attack, you're going to participate." She said in a threatening voice. "Or else…"

Usopp shivered at the threat, which somehow scared him more than Kuro did.

"Now…he's probably going to attack tomorrow morning." Sabo said, sitting down. "And we need to delay him."

Nami looked confused. "Two questions. One, why do you think he's going to attack tomorrow morning? And two, why do we need to delay him?"

"Two questions warrant two answers." Sabo said with a smile. "First, the reason I think that he's attacking tomorrow is that according to what Luffy told me, the ship's been anchored here for a week, meaning he had plenty of opportunities to meet with Jango, but since he did it now, that means the attack is coming soon. As to why we need to delay him, the moon is currently a waning crescent. I need a full moon for full use of my powers."

"We don't have time to wait 20 days!" Usopp said angrily.

Sabo shook his head. "It won't take a month, more like 3 days."

"Ummmm…" Nami said hesitantly, "Unless you can control the moon's rotation around the earth, there's no way that the moon can rotate 2/3 of the way of its path in just 3 days."

Sabo smiled coldly. "Luckily for us, I can control the moon's rotation."

Nami was silent for a moment to try and process what the blonde had just uttered, before shaking her head. "Alright then…but that still leaves us with a problem about how we're going to delay the attack."

"Leave that to me." Luffy said, grinning darkly.

* * *

"Captain Kuro!" Jango called to the pretender, as he walked on the beach the next morning. "We have a problem."

"What is it, Jango?" Kuro said, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"During last night's storm, a lightning bolt struck our mast, splitting it in half." Jango explained.

"What's the issue, then? Fix it." Kuro said impatiently.

"We don't want to stick around here after the attack fixing the ship – it's invitation to get caught with our pants down. With your permission sir, I'd like to have the ship fixed now." Jango said hesitantly.

Kuro was silent for a moment, before nodding. "That's fine, it's actually a good idea. How long will it take?"

Jango smiled in relief. "Only 3 days or so, sir."

"Alright then, in 3 days we attack." Kuro replied, a cold smile on his face.

* * *

Usopp sat on a tree branch, as conflicting thoughts battled in his mind. _'What do I do? Sabo said to not tell anyone, but I can't risk Kaya getting hurt, I have to warn her! But…she might not believe me… No, Kaya is my friend, she'll believe me! She has to know when I'm lying and when I'm telling the truth!'_

Jumping off the branch, Usopp began to make his way towards the mansion, just as the sun began to set.

Within 10 minutes, the long-nosed boy had reached the large house, and was climbing over the wall.

He quickly but carefully ascended the tree that grew next to Kaya's bedroom and knocked on the window. After a few moments, the window opened, and Kaya stuck her head out.

"Ah, Usopp-san!" she greeted the boy cheerfully. "What are you doing here so late? And why do you look so agitated?"

Usopp was silent for a moment, before sitting down on the branch slowly. "What I'm about to tell is going to shock you. I don't know if you will believe me, but I need you to promise me that you're going to listen to me all the way through before you rush to judgment."

"Usopp-san, what is this all about?" Kaya asked in confusion.

"Promise me!" Usopp burst out, as he began to shake in nervousness.

"I-I promise, Usopp-san!" Kaya said, as a sliver of fear crept into her mind. "Now, what's wrong?"

Usopp breathed in deeply a few times to calm himself before beginning to speak. "Kaya, have you ever heard of Captain Kuro, of the Black Cat Pirates?"

Kaya nodded. "Yes, he was executed 3 years ago. What about him?"

"He wasn't executed, Kaya." Usopp shook his head. "It was a trick."

Kaya's eyes widened. "A-a trick?"

Usopp bobbed his head rapidly. "3 years ago, he faked his own death and assumed a new identity – Klahadore!"

Kaya silently stared, her mouth slightly ajar.

"But his plan is more diabolical!" Usopp continued, gaining steam and confidence. "He's going to force you to write a will leaving him everything you own, and then kill you!"

Kaya did not say a word as she slowly closed her mouth and gazed at Usopp.

"You have to believe me!" Usopp suddenly raised his voice. "You have to get away from here!"

Kaya lowered her head. "Please leave, Usopp-san."

"W-what?" Usopp was dumbstruck.

"Please…please leave, Usopp-san!" She whispered quietly, tears coming out of her eyes. "I knew that you and Klahadore didn't like each other, but to say such things…! How could you? Klahadore has been nothing but kind to me for all these years, and now you say these cruel, heartless lies? Leave now, before I call the guards!"

Usopp silently stared in horror and confusion, before his face smoothed out, and a shadow crept over his eyes. "Very well Kaya, I'll leave. Just…promise me this. Don't tell anyone that I said this to you. Please. I'll leave…just don't tell anyone."

Kaya nodded, before turning her head and closing her window. Usopp silently climbed down the tree and vaulted over the estate wall, and was on his way to his house, when he saw Sabo leaning on a tree on the side of the road.

"That's why I told you not to tell her, Usopp." The blonde said as he pushed himself off of the tree and began to walk next to the long-nosed boy. "She's known Klahadore for too long, and Kuro is too good a deceiver."

"But I'm her friend…" Usopp said quietly, and Sabo saw that tears were pooling in the corners of the black-haired boy's eyes. "Why won't she believe me?! I-I've been her friend for years!"

Sabo smiled sadly. "There is nothing that we can do about it anymore except try and protect her."

"What are you doing, anyway? Why did we need to delay Kuro?" Usopp asked as he wiped the tears away from his eyes.

"My **Akuma no Mi…**it depends on the moon, more specifically, it works best during the full moon. So, I need a full moon. I need a delay so that I have time to move the moon into place." Sabo said cryptically.

"How can you move the moon? The moon…the moon is a celestial object, thousands of miles above the earth!" Usopp asked incredulously.

"Don't underestimate the powers of an **Akuma no Mi, **Usopp." Sabo grinned. "Don't worry, we're not going to let the asshole Kuro kill Kaya. We're going to kick his ass!"

Usopp felt the boy's cheer and confidence begin to infect him, and he began to smile slightly, and walk faster. "So, anyway, I have some ideas for traps that we can set on the shore."

"Do tell." Sabo said encouragingly.

"Well, the only real entrance is a small slope – it's a breach in the cliffside, and we can funnel the pirates through it. My idea is, we put some sticky fluid there to trap 'em, maybe some caltrops, and pick them off from a long distance." Usopp explained.

"I like that plan." Sabo said with a grin. "Two problems though."

"What's that?" Usopp asked curiously.

"First Luffy, Ace, and I'm guessing Zoro, don't like to fight from a distance – they're going to want to get up close and personal. Also, Jango is probably going to be unleashed from a different point – Kuro won't want him caught up in the fighting when he's needed for the hypnosis." Sabo explained.

"Ok, so, what are we going to do?" Usopp asked.

"I'm going to be waiting at Kaya's house – that's where Jango is probably going to come to hypnotize her. If he does, I can break the hypnosis, and defeat Jango." Sabo replied.

"How can you break the hypnosis? Are you a hypnotist as well?" Usopp asked in confusion.

Sabo shook his head. "Not exactly, but I have knowledge of the field. My **Akuma no Mi **has to do with mind control. It's part of the reason I needed to move the moon."

"You can control people's minds?" Usopp asked in amazement.

Sabo made a so-so motion with his hand. "Somewhat. It's…complicated. But, let's get back to the issue at hand – let's talk to Luffy and the others and see what they think."

Usopp nodded.

* * *

"I have a better idea than just pouring sticky liquid." Ace said, a smirk creeping onto his face.

"Oh? What's that?" Usopp said a tad defensively, seeing the criticism as an attack on his intelligence.

"I'm a **Mōka Ningen (Inferno Human), **meaning that I can turn stone into lava. So, what if instead of slippery oil or fluid, we turn the entire walkway into molten magma?" he offered with a grin. "I'd like to see them try to get past that."

Usopp's jaw was very close to the ground at this point. "Y-y-y-you can turn stone…into MAGMA?"

"Among other things." Ace preened. Luffy chuckled.

"So, magma-filled walkway. What else?" Sabo asked the group at large.

"Well, I have some prototype explosive gunpowder pellets. I can shoot the pirates from a distance." Usopp offered.

"Good, I like that." Sabo nodded. "Anybody else?"

"How about the rest of us just in general kick ass?" Luffy suggested from the chair he was sitting on.

"I like that idea." Zoro nodded in agreement. Nami sighed and shook her head.

"Well, I'm going to stake out Kaya's house for when Jango comes, so that I can stop him." Sabo proclaimed.

"That's that then." Ace stood up and stretched. "Now, we wait."

"Now we wait." Sabo agreed.

**That's a wrap! Next chapter will be the epic battle between the Black Cat Pirates and the Yet-To-Be-Named Pirates! (Working name)**

**Also, I'm sure you noticed that Jango now is unaffected by his hypnosis when he doesn't want to be… Could there be a fight in the future between Jango and Sabo?**

**Well, anyway, cya guys next week!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ok, so, chapter 5 is here! Time for an all-out, all-chapter battle between the Black Cat Pirates and the Pirates Who Have Not Yet Been Named! (Working name)**

**Also, starting this chapter, I will be responding to reviewers in the AN's!**

**apocalyps24: Why do they need a plan to beat Kuro…hmmm. Well, here's the thing. First of all, this isn't exactly spoilers, since this will be discussed this very chapter, but, because Luffy grew up with not only Ace, who's a bone-headed moron that likes to fight and sleep as much as Luffy, but with Sabo, who is much more intelligent, he's gotten more intelligent as well. He ain't no genius, he's still pretty dumb, but he understands the value of planning before attacking, especially considering it could harm his friends or family.**

**Second, Kuro's strength is virtually unknown to the gang so far; the Luffy of Canon wouldn't give a shit, but Sabo, as you are going to see in this chapter, isn't so much an all-out fighter as much as he is a strategist, so he does give a shit.**

**Also…yeah, I missed a week… Sorry about that. School has taken up a lot of time, and my free time was eaten up by SPN…**

**Anyway, on with the show!**

Speech – "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

_Thoughts – 'I'm going to be the Pirate King!'_

**Technique – "Gomu Gomu no…Mushi!" (Gum-Gum Whip)**

**_Letters/Notes/Anything written – 'Welcome to Saobody Archipelago!'_**

_Three Days after overhearing the plot_

Ace sat at the end of the walkway that led up from the southern beach with his eyes closed. A close observer would realize that he wasn't in fact meditating, as some are wont to do before the beginning of a battle. Rather, the 20-year old was simply sleeping.

"How can he just do that?" Usopp whispered to Luffy, both sitting on a tree's branch while Zoro stood at the base, leaning on the tree itself. Nami was nowhere to be seen at the moment, but she was a thief, which meant that she was probably just well hidden so as to be prepared for the attack.

Luffy shrugged. "He can sleep anywhere, at any time. He's fallen asleep in the middle of fights before, during concerts, hell, sometimes when he's eating!"

Usopp sighed, and for the umpteenth time wondered if these maniacs would actually be of any help to stopping the pirate invasion. "So, where's Sabo, anyway? I didn't see him last night at all."

"I think he's posted out in front of Kaya's mansion. He thinks that Jango is going to show up there so as to avoid the bulk of the fighting and be able to hypnotize Kaya without any fuss. Too bad for him…" Luffy said with a chuckle.

"Too bad for who? Sabo, or Jango?" Zoro asked curiously.

"Both. Sabo for having to miss an awesome melee, and Jango for having to fight my brother." Ace suddenly replied, scaring everyone but Luffy – Usopp nearly fell off of his branch.

"Warn us before you do stuff like that!" Nami cursed, suddenly popping up from under a bush.

"My bad. But, in any case, the pirates should be showing up fairly soon." Ace said as he stood up and stretched.

"How can you tell?" Zoro asked curiously.

"Simple." Ace said and pointed. "That's their flag right there."

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Usopp screamed. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?!"

"I was asleep." Ace defended himself. "I only noticed when I woke up."

"Why didn't any of you see that the pirate ship was approaching?!" Usopp rounded on the other members of the group. Luffy shrugged again.

"I was talking to you." He pointed out. Zoro merely grinned bloodthirstily, while Nami presumably shrunk lower under the bush.

"Whatever. Everybody, get in position, now." Ace ordered as he took a battle stance, his dominant right foot behind, arms lowered. Luffy jumped off of the tree branch to join him, though his stance was more flexible, seemingly revealing a few weak spots in his defense…seemingly.

Usopp climbed higher up the tree, reaching the very top, where he had a perfect view of the entire beach and the walkway – the position could be called a birdhouse.

Zoro, meanwhile, took a position slightly behind the two captains, head slightly bowed, supposedly relaxed, but, if one were to take a closer look, they would see that his arms were tensed in preparation of drawing his swords.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

"First Mate Derenian, we're here!" a random Black Cat Pirate said to a man lying on the deck, staring at the clouds. Turning his head, the man looked at the mook, before standing up and walking up to him quietly. Unnerving the pirate, the first mate grabbed the unfortunate underling by the chin and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Ok." Was the only word that came out of his mouth, before he walked up to the nose of the ship.

"Any orders, sir?" another pirate asked the man, who merely turned to look at the speaker.

"No." was his reply. The other pirates began to facepalm, before realizing that this gave them carte blanche to act in any way they saw fit, so long as they did not exceed the parameters of their given orders. Grinning amongst themselves, the villains began to imagine the plunder they could get from such a peaceful village. This might just be worth the long trip to get here.

* * *

As soon as the crew landed, however, they realized something was wrong when they saw their welcoming committee. They had expected to arrive unseen, not to be greeted by 3 very unsmiling faces.

"Oi, who're you three, and what're you doing here?" a random crewmember called out dangerously.

"Us? We're the ones who are here to stop you from attacking the village." Ace said, smiling slightly, while Luffy full on grinned.

"What, three people against the might of the entire Black Cat Pirates?" the same speaker mocked, before turning to look at his commanding officer. "First Mate, do we have permission to use deadly force on them?"

The man nodded, before leaning on a tree to watch the fight.

"Men! Get them!" another pirate screamed, and as one, the crew drew their weapons and began to charge up the walkway. Ace smirked.

"This ain't going to be that easy, trash." He said arrogantly, and, waiting until the first pirate was within a meter of him, he raised his foot and stamped down, hard. "**Erebasu no Kawa (River of Erebus)!"**

Suddenly, the entire walkway transformed from solid stone into molten magma. (Hurray for alliteration!) The pirates found themselves quickly descending into a scorching hot pool of liquid stone, and began to desperately try to escape the trap while screaming in pain as the lava rapidly gave them third degree burns before beginning to flat out melt through their legs. However, the magma quickly cooled, solidifying into metamorphic rock and trapping the pirates in place.

Ace straightened his legs, and crossed his arms, looking at the scene in disappointment; pirates were already passing out from pain, shock, and fear.

"Well…that was a waste of time. I thought there would be at least ONE good fight amongst this entire crew…" he mused, crossing his arms.

Derenian walked up to the walkway, and gazed thoughtfully at the feet of the downed crewmembers, before turning back to look at the ship.

"Sham! Buchi!" he said, with just enough volume in his voice to be heard. Two men popped their heads over the deck of the ship.

"W-what is it, Derenian-san?" the fat one asked in a sniveling voice, his head shaking so hard the cat bell on his neck began to ring.

"You two. Go." Derenian ordered curtly.

"W-what? We're just guards, Derenian-san! We can't fight strong people like these guys!" the other, skinnier, man said, also stammering from fear. Derenian did not say a word, but merely stared at the two men.

"O-ok, Derenian-san! Nyanban Brothers, move out!" the fat one said, before both carefully climbed down the rope between the ship and the beach.

Within a minute they stood on the beach, and Zoro had to admit that they were some of the strangest people he'd ever seen – the skinny one seemed to have a perpetual shoulder hunch and had green hair. The fat one had no shirt on and was wearing a black, furred cape along with a cat bell around his neck. Both wore gloves with claws extending from the fingertips.

"Please, don't hurt us!" the skinny one implored the group of three once they reached the shore. "W-we're weak!"

Zoro sneered at the cowering brothers, before lowering his guard slightly. However, as he did so, he did not notice them exchange a quick smirk, as suddenly, the skinny one jumped.

"**Neko Baba (Cat Snatch)!" **the skinny Sham yelled, as he grabbed two of Zoro's swords, and leapt away.

"Nice one, Sham!" the fat one, Buchi, called to his brother, as both pirates began to chuckle. "Now that you don't have your swords, you're helpless!"

"Tche…" Zoro scoffed, staring at the only sword remaining in his possession. "I'm not that good with just one sword…a bit out of practice...but still good enough to beat you idiots!"

He took a standard samurai stance, before launching himself at Sham, the one who was holding his swords. Slashing his sword, the swordsman tried to cut off the skinny pirate's arm so as to regain his swords, but was surprised by his opponent's reaction.

"**Nekoze (Hunchback)!" **Sham called, as he used his strange stance to avoid the attack, before leaping high into the air, and coming down again – this time onto Zoro's back. "Gotcha!"

Holding the swordsman in place, Sham looked at his fat brother with a cruel grin. "I have him! Crush him!"

Buchi grinned in return, before backing up a bit and beginning to run forward, before leaping high in the air. "**Cat The Funjyatta (The Cat Stomp)!" **he called, as he fell like a meteor towards the prone swordsman.

This is when Ace attempted to intervene. "Oh no you don't!"

The shirtless boy's mouth bulged as he executed one of his techniques. "**Maguma Nagare (Magma Flow)!"**

A large stream of magma flew from Ace's mouth, ready to entrap Buchi and give him a new coat of stone, but it was intercepted by the First Mate, Derenian. However, it was enough to distract Buchi, leading him to slamming into a stone instead of Zoro, and gave the swordsman time to snatch his swords from Sham and jump away from the toppled brothers.

When Ace tore his eyes away from Zoro, he turned to look at the man who managed to stop his superheated attack. Derenian in place, arms out, as the pool of magma slowly ate at the ground around him.

"So…how exactly did you manage to do that?" Ace asked cheerfully as he looked at the strange man. Derenian was tall, even taller than Sham. He had a black muscle shirt on, with long cargo pants. His black hair was styled in a long ponytail, and he had metal bracers covering the entirety of his forearms, leaving his biceps bare. He seemed to be unarmed, but you never knew with pirates.

"You will see as we fight." Derenian replied curtly, as he positioned his arms in a strange manner – fists clenched and pointing down, with his arms crossed, a pose that would normally signal supplication, while Ace prepared for another battle.

* * *

"What the hell is going on there? The invasion should have started by now." Kuro muttered to himself as he witnessed the utter lack of destruction, fire, or pillaging. Standing up, the pirate-turned-butler grabbed a bag and set out of the house to the north shore.

"Ah, Klahadore, where are you going?" the other butler, Merry, asked Kuro just before the former pirate captain cleared the doorway. Turning his head, Kuro looked at Merry and smiled.

"Just for a walk, Merry-san. I've been having a few heavy thoughts, and I'd like to clear my head." He replied, cheerfulness masking the rage he was feeling.

"Ah, I hope you enjoy it then." Merry said, and waved goodbye to the man whose true motives he could never hope to suspect.

* * *

Zoro stood up straight as he gazed at the seemingly downed Nyanban Brothers, this time on his guard as he had seen how the pair used subterfuge and pretend cowardice to defeat him the first time.

"Ugh…" Sham groaned, as he slowly stood back up again. "I feel like I was hit by a boulder…"

Buchi grunted as got to his feet as well. "Sorry about that… I didn't expect to get a wave of magma thrown in my face…"

The pair stared at Zoro, the pain on their faces slowly transforming into rage.

"You…you aren't going to go down easy, are you?" Sham said through gritted teeth, as he and Buchi both took identical battle stances.

Zoro smirked in challenge, and shook his head, as he placed a sword in his mouth while aiming the other two at the brothers.

* * *

Meanwhile, the battle between Ace and Derenian had begun. Ace struck first, with a punch to the face that the other pirate blocked with a bracer, before countering with a kick intended to sweep Ace's knee, which Ace dodged by jumping up. Capitalizing on his upwards momentum, the shirtless pirate grabbing Derenian's shoulders, anchoring himself before swinging around and powerfully slamming his legs into the surprised pirate's back, throwing him several feet away into the downed body of one of his subordinates.

Standing back up, the still-silent pirate turned back to look at Ace, before cracking his neck, and placing his hands at his sides, in a position that seemed one that would fit more if he was reverse-wielding daggers. Speaking of which…

"**Ken no Kengen (Sword Manifestation)!" **Derenian said in a quiet yet powerful voice as two short, curved, scimitar-like swords appeared in his hands. (Think Kanshou and Bakuya from Fate/Stay Night.)

Ace's eyes widened as he realized how exactly the tall man had blocked his attack – the magma that he spit was designed to be quick-cooling, which meant it had a much lower temperature and viscosity than ordinary lava, meaning that a fast enough blocking or deflecting move could theoretically reroute the attack such that it couldn't hit the intended target.

"So that's how you did that." Ace mused as he got over his surprise. Derenian smirked, before launching himself at the shirtless boy, swords ready to cut. Ace bent his knees, collapsing and thus ducking under the charge before popping back up and spinning place, ready for the counterattack, which came immediately.

"**Shi no Kaiten (Rotation of Death)!" **Derenian called as he hurled the two blades at Ace, whose mouth bulged again.

"**Maguma Nagare (Magma Flow)!" **the magma spit from Ace's mouth engulfed the thrown blades and quickly cooled, turning the weapons into mere statues of themselves.

Ace panted in relief at having avoided the deadly swords, but he was given no respite for Derenian immediately moved again.

"**Ken no Kengen (Sword Manifestation)!" **the sword-creating pirate repeated, but this time, the blades formed directly in front of him – not in his hands. "**Marunoko Ha** **(Circular Saw Blade)!"**

The blades began to spin in place rapidly, before suddenly flying at Ace with immense speed. The shirtless boy barely had time to fall to the ground to avoid the spinning swords. Rolling on his back, Ace was confronted with Derenian, who had capitalized on his enemy's momentary defenseless state with a leaping axe kick.

Barely having time to counter, Ace flung his arms out to catch the limb, and grunted in pain when he was faced with the force behind the attack. However, now that he held the leg, he had an advantage.

"**Kagerō (Heat Haze)!" **Ace yelled, as he pointed his hand at Derenian's chest, causing a stream of fire to rapidly flow from his fingers directly at the immobile First Mate. Derenian's eyes widened in shock and fear, not expecting this sudden and deadly move. However, self-control rapidly reasserted itself, and the First Mate ripped his leg out of Ace's grasp, using the momentum to fall to the ground so as to dodge the blast of heat and destruction.

* * *

At this point, some of you dear readers may be wonder what the hell has Luffy been doing in the middle of this battle. Well, the answer is very simple. Since nobody's attacked him yet, and he's not one to interrupt a fight that he feels his allies can win, he's fallen asleep. Now, on with the battle!

* * *

Sham and Buchi stood still for a moment, before attacking at once.

"**Neko-Yanagi Daikoshin (Grand March of the Pussywillows)!" **the pair called out as they simultaneously charged the swordsman, slicing him with their cat claws. Before Usopp or Nami could blink (did you forget about them?), the pair was right in front of Zoro, desperately trying to claw the swordsman to death, who was, unfortunately, not playing ball; the speed of his movement was such that not a single scratch landed on him. In fact, his blades were moving so fast that all you could see from the area was the light reflecting from the swordsman's blades, meaning that neither Nami nor Usopp could tell who was winning.

* * *

Now, at this point we've been missing an important member of our little gang. What in heaven's name has happened to Sabo? Well, let's take a trip to a large mansion on top of a hill, surrounded by a thick wall…

Sabo sat in a tree as he watched the gate with keen eyes, waiting for the arrival of a certain pirate hypnotist. As if responding to the top hat-clad boy's thoughts, a tall blonde man with a strange beard and heart-shaped glasses appeared.

"Now…this is the biggest mansion on the island, so this should be it…" he heard the man mutter, before a sight that he did not expect, the second butler for the household, Merry, exited through the gate and looked at the odd man with a strict expression on his face.

"And just who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked, iron in his voice causing Jango to turn and look at the butler with a curious expression.

"Who are you?" he asked in confusion. "Captain Kuro never mentioned another butler."

"I am Merry, the head butler for Kaya-sama's household. And who is this Captain Kuro that you speak of?" Merry asked imperiously, though Sabo could hear a note of perplexity leaking into the butler's voice.

"Ah, you don't know Captain Kuro by that name, do you…" Jango muttered, before his gaze brightened. "Wait, I think here he goes by the name Klahadore!"

"What?!" Merry gasped in shock. Jango just nodded, before reaching into his jacket.

"Now then… Normally I don't enjoy killing uninvolved civilians, but you are a nuisance, and you can't leave here alive knowing what you do. So…goodbye." Jango grinned cruelly, before suddenly flicking his arm forward, and too late Sabo realized that what Jango had reached into his jacket to get was a chakram, and the flick had released it to fly at the hapless butler, slicing deep into his chest.

Grunting once from the shock, Merry gazed in surprise at the weapon that had suddenly sprouted in his breast, before collapsing to the ground. Jango took a step forward and retrieved his ring of death from the victim, prompting a spurt of blood to gush from the wound.

Jango then looked at the large, powerful gate. "Now…what's the best way to enter this estate?"

At this point Sabo had had enough. "None whatsoever." He said as he jumped off of his tree branch to face down the hypnotist.

Jango looked in surprise at the sudden visitor, before withdrawing the blade ring from his jacket again. "To quote the now-dying butler, who are you and what are you doing here?"

Sabo's lip curled at the mention of the innocent man before replying. "I'm the one who's going to stop you. By any means necessary."

* * *

Ace breathed in heavily as he got back to his feet. "I have say, you're not a bad opponent." He admitted to Denerian, who had also stood up again. The other pirate nodded in agreement before taking his battle stance again, Ace mirroring his motion. The pair stood motionless for a moment, before both rushing at each other.

Denerian struck the first blow, landing a solid punch in Ace's gut, who retaliated with a knee to Denerian's face, possibly breaking the other man's nose, as blood began to flow freely. They jumped apart to release the lock they found themselves in as each panted in exertion while staring the other down. Finally, Ace spoke again.

"So…what say we end this in one move?" he offered, as he raised his fists again.

"I agree." Denerian replied, as he raised his arms as well, palms out.

"**Hi…ken (Fire Fist)!" **Ace suddenly roared, as a large mass of reddish-white fire in the shape of a fist formed in front of his right hand.

"**Senju Ha (Thousand Arms Blade)!" **Derenian yelled simultaneously, as an enormous claymore-looking sword formed in the air in front of his hands, the tip aimed at Ace. As one, the attacks left their respective masters' hands and crashed. For a moment, all was quiet, an oppressive silence that is only heard in the final instances before the end of a battle. However, that silence lasted only a moment, and Denerian found himself engulfed in an explosion of heat and fire and _pain_, an agony that could only come with the sensation of being burned alive, and in the last instance before he lost consciousness, he realized that the flames that had defeated him had _melted through his sword._

Sparing a final look at the one who defeated him, he had one final thought before the blackness of sleep took him.

_'You…whoever you are…I will defeat you.'_

* * *

Meanwhile, Sabo and Jango were sizing each other up, before Jango finally smirked.

"So, kid, tell me. How exactly did you know that I was going to be here?" he said, using the conversation to try to psychoanalyze the boy, as well as get a read on his stance.

"My brother overheard your conversation with the captain 3 days ago." Sabo said, smirking in return.

Jango's face lit up in recognition. "I'm going to guess that you had a little something to do with that storm, didn't you?"

Sabo's smirk grew into a full-on dark grin. "You'd be right."

Jango hemmed. "Well…I don't really want to fight a guy who can create storms powerful enough to crack masts in two…any chance you'll just let me through?" he asked with a hopeful look on his face.

Sabo shook his head, causing Jango to sigh.

"Oh, well, I guess sometimes you gotta get out on the field…" Jango said, shaking his head in defeat, before suddenly putting his hand in his jacket again and withdrawing a second chakram.

"Now then, shall we dance, blondie?" Jango asked with a grin, which Sabo returned.

Sabo struck first, with a leaping butterfly kick, which Jang avoided by leaning back, and then countered by hurling out his chakrams like yo-yo's attached to strings, slightly cutting into both of Sabo's legs. Ignoring the pain, Sabo landed behind Jango, and immediately followed up with a sweeping kick to the knee, which Jango was unable dodge, and so ended up falling to the ground, where he was confronted by Sabo's grim visage.

"**Mangetsu Hari (Full Moon Beam)!" **Sabo intoned, as a blast of pure white light left his fingers and slammed into the ground where Jango's head would have been, had the hypnotist not rolled to the right just in the nick of time, before jumping back on his feet, and hurling his chakram again, this time aimed at Sabo's neck, hoping to decapitate the other blonde. Unfortunately, it was not.

**"Sessaku Getsumen (Slicing Moon Surface)!" **Sabo yelled, as he fell forwards on his hands, and then spun on them, his legs drawing a circle around his body – a fully physical circle of light, which then arced towards Jango, catching him across his stomach.

Jango looked down to see blood begin to pool on his shirt; with a scowl he discarded it, along with his jacket, leaving him shirtless with a long but fairly shallow wound on his torso.

Sabo smirked again, having stood up in the time that Jango threw vestments away like they had the plague. "Now we're even."

Jango's eyes narrowed, as he grasped one of his chakrams by the string attached to it and he began to swing it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… "One, Two, Jango!" he yelled, as he expected Sabo to fall to the ground, asleep. However, he was to be disappointed.

"Interesting…" Sabo said with a smile, as he stared at the swinging pendulum.

"How…how did you do that?" Jango asked with shock written all over his face.

"Well, as a fellow hypnotist, I've had this theory in my mind for a while. See, hypnotism works as one will overpowering another, and apparently, my will is stronger than yours." Sabo said with superiority. Jango scowled again, but the scowl soon turned into a grin.

"Well then, _fellow hypnotist, _why don't you show me what you're capable of?" Jango taunted.

"Gladly." Sabo said, before smiling. "Tell me, doesn't the moon look really pretty?"

Jango turned in confusion to look at the celestial object, before he realized something. "Wait a moment…the moon. It's in the wrong phase! How could it have gone from waxing crescent to full in 3 days?!"

Sabo smiled darkly. "**Tsuki no Eikyō (Effect of the Moon)…**success." He muttered, as Jango turned to look at the boy, a blank expression on his face.

"I suppose you deserve an explanation of sorts…see, when I was a kid, I ate a certain **Akuma no Mi, **which lets me control the moon, and use it as a medium for hypnosis. It's much more powerful than your excuse for mind control…" Sabo rambled, before smiling again. "As to why the moon is in the wrong phase…well, I couldn't use it as a crescent, so I needed to go full moon. That's why I needed the distraction of you fixing your ship."

Sabo's smile slid off his face, as he looked over the still-immobile Jango, and his face twisted into a cruel grimace. "Now, take out that chakram."

Silently, Jango pulled the chakram out of his coat. Sabo turned around, not wanting to face his enemy as he preformed his next action.

"Slit your throat." Sabo ordered, a note of hoarseness entering his voice. However, just as he began to hear the whistling sound of metal slicing through air, something seemed _wrong _to him, so suddenly just before the whistle ended, he twisted, and so prevented a very deadly blow from the chakram, which instead slashed down the length of his back, landing a long and fairly deep slice. Jumping backwards to avoid the forthcoming second attack, Sabo eyed Jango with incredulity.

"H-how did you avoid the effect of **Tsuki no Eikyō (Effect of the Moon)?!" **he asked, a note of hysteria entering his voice. Jango chuckled.

"One would think that you're the bad guy in this situation with the way you're talking." Jango mocked, before bringing his hands up to his face, pointing at his heart-shaped glasses. "I wear reflective lenses, moron."

Sabo's jaw dropped. "Seriously? Reflective lenses? That's it?"

Jango nodded.

"Huh." Sabo said thoughtfully. "Do they ever get in the way?"

"Not really…" Jango replied. "You should definitely invest in some, as a hypnotist. It's helpful so that you never get caught in your own attacks."

Sabo hummed pensively. "Thanks for the tip." Then, pulling a complete 180, his face turned grim. "But time's up for chatting."

Jango sighed again. "Fine." Then, surprising Sabo with his speed, he flung his chakram at the blonde boy, who bent backwards to avoid it, before snapping back up and launching himself at the hypnotist.

"It's time to end this!" Sabo yelled as he pushed himself off of his left leg, elevating his body in the air, ready to kick Jango in the face. Jango prepared to intercept with his hands, but did not expect Sabo to suddenly go into a crescent kick, striking the glasses-clad hypnotist in the temple, knocking said glasses off.

However, Sabo wasn't done yet. Capitalizing on the shock and pain he had inflicted on Jango, he rushed forward to grab the hypnotist by the throat, and stared straight into the terrified and shocked man's eyes.

"Thanks for the tip with the glasses, now I know how to beat you." Sabo said in a low and threatening voice. "Let's see how this works. **Tsuki no Manazashi (Lunar Petrification)!"**

Just as Sabo finished speaking, his eyes flashed white, as did Jango's, before the man began to stiffen, as if he was paralyzed. He fell to the ground motionless, his mouth open in a silent scream and his eyes completely gray.

Getting off of his downed opponent, Sabo breathed in deeply several times, before sitting down on a nearby rock. _'That took longer than it should have…Luffy, I hope that you're doing better than I am.'_

* * *

"Well…I've had just about enough of playing with you two." Zoro said, as he jumped a few feet back, revealing a heavily panting Sham and Buchi, who nonetheless looked ready to continue the fight. Zoro raised the swords in his hands such that the blades were parallel to themselves and perpendicular to the sword in his mouth, before charging at the Nyanban Brothers. "**Santoryū: Tora…Gari (Three-Sword-Style: Tiger Hunt)!"**

The downwards slash caught the pirates off guard, cutting them severely and knocking them down to their feet, this time unable to get up.

At this point, Luffy had woken up and was looking in avid interest at Zoro's finishing move, but he was broken out of his ruminations by a new voice interrupting the fight.

"What the hell is going on here?!" an enraged shout suddenly gathered the attention of all present,

"Why has the attack on the village not commenced yet?" Kuro asked quietly and dangerously, staring at Sham and Buchi, a hard look on his face.

The Nyanban Brothers shuddered as one when they heard the call of their doom, and yet try as they might, they could not get up off of the ground. Zoro's attack had been too powerful, and the damage it wrought to great; they had no strength left in their bodies.

"Please…forgive us Captain Kuro." Sham half-groaned, half-whispered as he raised his head to look his captain in the eye. "That swordsman…he's too strong."

Kuro's blank expression turned into a nasty scowl. "Really. Well then, in that case, you have 5 minutes to defeat him, or I start carving my name into your bodies."

Sham's mouth fell open, and he would have screamed in frustration and astonishment, had he the power. As it stood, he merely stared at his captain, unseen rage and fear storming in his brain.

Zoro smirked. "Nice way to treat your comrades, Kuro." He said, turning to look at the former pirate captain.

Kuro snorted. "Comrades? They're nothing but pawns to me. They only exist to serve _my_ needs, to fulfill _my_ plans."

At this point, Luffy had stood up and was gazing at Kuro, his sleepy expression slowly becoming grim.

"Really?" the boy asked Kuro, narrowing his eyebrows. "After everything they did for you, after all the years you spent together, they're nothing but tools to you?"

"Who are you anyway, boy?" Kuro asked in annoyance, as he looked at the person intruding on the conversation he was having with who he interpreted as the legitimate threat.

Luffy smiled coldly, the corners of his mouth rising about a half an inch. "I'm the guy who's going to kick this shit out of you."

Kuro's eyebrows rose a bit in incredulity and amusement. "You think that _you _can defeat _me?"_

Luffy nodded. "But, before I do, I have a question. Why exactly did you stop being a pirate?"

Kuro thought about it for a second, before shrugging and setting the bag in his hand on the ground. "I suppose a dead man is entitled to a final question. Why did I stop being a pirate…" the man mused for a second, before scowling. "Well, first of all, how about no more being chased around by Marines? No more running around constantly, no more being unable to stay in one place? No more putting up with my idiot crew, who are so moronic that they can't even execute _one single raid _without my planning, and even THEN, they manage to screw it up!"

Gesturing at the still mostly-unconscious pirates all over the beach. "Look at this! A whole crew of hardened pirates, defeated by a bunch of _kids._"

"To be fair," Luffy interjected, "My brother has eaten a Devil Fruit."

Kuro shook his head in disgust. "It shouldn't matter. In any case, I believe that I've answered your question sufficiently."

Luffy nodded again. "Yes, you have, and now I've made a decision about you." He said, with a grin.

"Oh? And what's that?" Kuro asked, as a cruel smile began to crawl onto his face, as he picked up the satchel that he had earlier placed on the ground and opened it.

"You…are not a real pirate." Luffy said determinately. "You're just a coward who's to scared and weak to deal with the high seas."

Kuro twitched, and swallowed slowly, as he withdrew the Cat Claws from his bag and slowly slipped them on like gloves, before turning to look at Luffy again. "You know…I was going to kill you quickly, since I don't really have much time…" he said, as the red tint of rage began to swim over his eyes. "But now…I think I'm going to savor cutting ever single one of your limbs off of your body before I go kill that worthless brat Kaya."

At this statement, something happened that Kuro with his thousand plans could never have expected. A single lead pellet bit into his shoulder at extreme speed. Twisting around from the force of the shot, Kuro was greeted with the sight of a livid Usopp, staring at the pirate captain while panting heavily and holding his slingshot in shaky arms. He had already reloaded, and the new pellet was aimed directly at the pseudo-butler's throat, from which a deep rumbling chuckle erupted.

"Ah…Usopp-kun. It figures that you would be here, idiot that you are." Kuro chuckled, as he shook his head while looking down.

"Shut up!" Usopp whispered, before his tone and pitch suddenly jumped. "Shut up, you piece of scum! I don't want to hear another word from you! You're not going to get to Kaya; I won't let you! You'll kill her over my dead body!"

Kuro continued to chuckle, as it slowly grew to a full-bellied laugh tinged with insanity. "You know what?" He asked the long-nosed boy as he fixed his glasses with the palm of his hand. "That suits me just fine."

Before anyone could react, there was a cloud of dust, and Kuro had disappeared. Frantically looking around, Usopp tried to find the missing villain, only to be confronted by a feeling of malice and anger and a bloodlust unlike anything he had every felt emanating from behind him. Slowly turning around, the boy was greeted with the sight of Kuro grinning madly as his arms stretched out and slightly up, fingertips, and therefore katana blades, angled at the hapless liar.

"Ghuh…" Usopp grunted as he felt those blades slicing across his chest and deep into flesh, before he felt the pain. It was as if someone had raked hot coals across his chest, and his entire upper torso was on fire. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and with nary a sound he fell to his knees, completely defenseless before the cruel murderer standing in front of him.

Drawing back his Cat Claws again, Kuro prepared to finish off the nuisance, before he heard a shout.

"**Rakurai (Lightning Shot)!" **was the only warning he got, before his advanced instinct told him that if he didn't want to be crispy-fried by the wrath of god, he'd do well to _get the fuck out of the way of the massive lightning bolt flying his way_. Dropping to the ground in a fraction of an instant, Kuro just barely dodged the blast of ionized plasma that would've turned him into cat food. Raising his head to look in the direction of the attack, he saw a pissed-off Luffy rushing at him, fist cocked for a blow aimed at the pirate captain's nose.

Using his arms to push off of the ground, Kuro launched himself backwards, preforming a backflip in the air and landing on his feet, which then allowed him to block Luffy's enraged punch with his forearm.

"Oh, look at that, hit a nerve, didn't I?" Kuro taunted the boy, as he inwardly raced through the possibilities that could've allowed this kid to hurl lightning bolts of all things.

Luffy clenched his teeth, lips slightly ajar, giving the impression of a snarling animal.

"I'm going to rip that smug head off of your worthless shoulders!" he growled, before pulling his left arm back, palm open. "**Kaminari-kyū (Thunder Ball)!"**

As the ball of lightning formed in Luffy's left hand, Kuro had the good sense to realize that if that connected, he would be out for the count, and attempted to use his free arm to capitalize on the boy's weak spot by slamming his fist into the kid's chest. Unfortunately, Luffy saw what was coming and bent at a nigh-impossible angle, causing the fist to fly by right next to him.

Realizing that when the boy snapped back into place, the ball of lightning would end up in Kuro's chest, the pirate captain jumped back, but was unprepared when Luffy, having twisted his body back into his original position so as to electrocute Kuro with his ball (heh) then flicked his hand forward, causing the attack to fly forward at a shocked (geddit?) villain. Reacting quickly, Kuro crossed his claws, catching the flying ball of lightning with the katana blades attached to his claws.

"I've never been more glad that I made sure these gloves were rubber…" Kuro muttered, as he inspected the now electrified katana blades.

Luffy smirked. "If you think that that's going to give you an advantage, I'd think again."

Kuro shrugged. "In any case, it can't hurt, can it?" He said mockingly, before suddenly whirling around to block a sneak attack that Zoro was trying to land on him.

"Zoro, no, don't block that!" Luffy screamed in panic, knowing what would happen if the green-haired man tried to stop that attack.

Unfortunately for Zoro, his katana's cross guard wasn't made of rubber, but of steel, so the moment the electrified Cat Claws touched the blade of his katana, 200,000 volts unloaded into Zoro, knocking the swordsman unconscious.

Turning back to face a now truly irate Luffy, Kuro chuckled darkly. "Your friends seem to be falling one by one, boy. How long do you think you're going to last against me?"

Luffy's silent snarl slowly began to smooth into a fully blank expression as he lowered his head, causing a shadow to fall over his face. "15 minutes." He replied.

"Oh? You think you'll last 15 minutes against me?" Kuro mocked.

"No." Luffy said lowly, "That's how long it's going to take for me to kick your ass all over this island."

* * *

"Merry! Merry! Where are you, Merry? Klahadore! Is anybody there?" Kaya called frantically, walking all over the sizable house. Walking outside of the estate, she was greeted with the shocking sight of Merry bleeding at the steps of the main gate while a blond-haired man kneeled next to him, bandaging the butler's wounds. Tearing her gaze away from her servant, she looked around, and spotted another man, this one having obviously just been in a battle, judging by his wounds, lying on the ground, his eyes completely grey.

The blond looked up at Kaya, comprehension dawning in his eyes. "You're that Kaya chick, right? Come help me."

Silently, almost unconsciously, the heiress ran over to Sabo where she began to help bandage the wounds. Within a minute they were done, and Merry was stable.

"W-what happened here?!" she finally cried, looking at the blond, who was now leaning against a large boulder.

Sabo sighed tiredly, still worn out from his battle. "You know how Usopp tried to warn you a few nights ago about how Klahadore is actually the pirate Kuro, and that he wants to kill you and steal your inheritance?"

"W-what? How did you know about that?" Kaya stammered.

"Because I told him not to do it; you obviously wouldn't believe him." Sabo replied as he took off and dusted his top hat, before replacing it. "Basically, he was telling the truth. That guy," he said, as he nodded head at the grey-eyed man. "Was here to hypnotize you into signing a will that would leave everything to Kuro. I stopped him."

Kaya's jaw dropped as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea that Kuro, her caretaker of three years had betrayed her in such a cruel manner.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Sabo said sympathetically.

"W-what's stopping him from coming here and killing me then?" Kaya asked fearfully.

Sabo chuckled. "Hopefully, my brothers. They're currently on the north beach stopping Kuro's pirate crew's invasion."

Kaya's eyes widened to take up about half her face, and she turned to look in that direction.

Seeing her intention, Sabo tried to stand up and shake his head. "Don't even think about it! You'll just get in the way, stay here where it's safe!"

"But, Usopp-san thinks that I don't believe him! I have to talk to him! Maybe I can stop Klahadore!" Kaya said, having already disregarded Sabo's very intelligent warning and decided to go play the Damsel In Distress. Yay.

Taking off at a run, the heiress began to make her way to the northern shore.

"Dammit, stupid girl!" Sabo cursed under his breath, sitting back down. "I hope that Luffy and the others will be able to protect her…"

* * *

Luffy and Kuro slowly circled each other, like predators trying to find the weak spot of prey. Kuro was the first to attack, lunging with his arms out, trying to slash at the younger pirate with his Cat Claws. Unfortunately for him, Luffy was prepared.

"**Arashi no Kaze (Storm Winds)!" **he called, as he breathed in a massive amount of air, before suddenly and powerfully exhaling it directly into the chest of the black-clad butler. Caught off guard by this strange new method of attack, Kuro was thrown into a tree, slamming into it at high velocity.

Leaping forward, Luffy attempted to capitalize on Kuro's momentary weakness with a punch to the torso, but Kuro, anticipating this, bent over at the last moment, causing Luffy to bury his fist into the tree that Kuro was leaning against.

Then, Kuro burst into motion. Luffy's last attack had put them in a position where the boy was trapped – due to his fist being stuck in the tree, he was temporarily unable to defend, and Kuro was in a prime position to launch a surprise attack at the weak underbelly, which he then did. Slamming his palms into the ground, the pirate captain launched his head into Luffy's stomach, throwing him away from the downed captain, and depositing him about 20 feet away. Standing up, Kuro then sprung forward, Cat Claws angled to slice at the teen's exposed jugular.

As Luffy attempted to catch his breath, his mind, working faster than his body, realized that if Kuro's attack connected, he wouldn't be able to walk away from it. Acting more on instinct than strategy or tactics, Luffy desperately tried to get away from his attacker.

**"Harikēn Nagatatsu (Hurricane Boots)!" **Luffy called, choking a little due to lack of oxygen, as he used the technique that he normally used to get around in a way that would never even have come to him outside this situation. Gathering a large amount of pressurized air at his feet, he then expelled it quickly. Acting like a propulsion system in only one direction, Luffy slid across the ground to avoid the deadly blades.

"Fuck!" Kuro cursed, as both of his claws ended up stabbed deep into the sandy soil.

Getting up, Luffy coughed once or twice, before putting his hands on his knees and breathing in and out deeply a few times. "Gotta admit…" he croaked finally. "You're more dangerous than I thought you would be."

With a final grunt, Kuro tore his weapons out from the ground, before turning to look at Luffy and smiling grimly. "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet."

Hunching slightly, Kuro raised his right foot, before slamming it down on the ground.

One of the Black Cat Pirates who had awakened at this point's mouth dropped open as he gazed at his captain's actions.

"H-he's using it!" he whispered, horror in his voice. The other crewmembers began to rouse themselves as well, as they too began to stare at their former leader.

"He can't… Against just some random kid?" they muttered amongst themselves.

"Shut up, you morons!" one of the more intelligent pirates whispered aggressively. "Don't you remember what happened every time he used this technique?!"

Meanwhile, Kuro had continued to stomp, increasing his speed as he did.

Luffy gazed on with a bemused expression. "Are you trying out for the local dance team or something?"

Kuro smirked. "If so, let me show you my signature move. **Nuki Ashi (Stealth Foot)!"**

Suddenly, with a small puff of smoke and dust, he was gone. Turning his head violently in every which way direction, Luffy tried to figure out where his foe had gone. Suddenly, his instinct, which is mainly what he listened to during fights, told him that something was approaching him from the right. Twisting his body to avoid the sensed attack, Luffy realized too late that he was not fast enough. He felt the blades pierce skin and penetrate, and though the majority of the force behind the blow was lost due to it merely grazing the boy instead of cutting out a large portion of his hip and rib, Luffy was nonetheless spun around and thrown backwards.

Standing back up, Luffy felt a sudden jolt of pain at his right side. Looking down, he saw four short, but relatively deep scratches, crimson life flowing freely from the wounds. Grimacing, Luffy quickly tore off his jacket and fashioned a rough tourniquet to stem the bleeding. Desperately, he began to look all around him constantly, and that's when he noticed something.

All around him were footfalls obviously made by someone other than himself, almost as if someone was trying to hit him, but was unable to control his own movements to some degree.

"So, Kuro." Luffy said conversationally, as he attempted to stretch out that sixth sense of his that always seemed to warn him of danger. "How out of practice are you? You haven't managed to land more than one attack on me. For a signature move, this feels a tad pitiful."

A deep chuckle suddenly sounded a few feet behind and to the right of the boy. Whirling around, Luffy saw the pirate captain appear and once again fix his glasses.

"Well, if that failed to impress you, allow me to try harder!" Kuro said, smiling savagely as he prepared to disappear again.

"Klahadore, stop!" the high-pitched wail tore through the battleground, attracting the attention of all those present. Kuro turned to look, and was shocked to see the person he was least expecting to see.

"Well, well, well, Ōjo-sama." Kuro's already dark grin grew wider and colder as he gazed at Kaya.

"Please, Klahadore, stop the killing! I'll sign the will, just let them go!" Kaya pleaded with the villain, arms clasped in supplication.

Kuro was silent for a moment, before his face became faux-upset. "Sadly, Ōjo-sama, I don't just want wealth and power, I want _peace_. As long as you're alive, I can't have that. So, why don't you just wait your turn, while I deal with these…ruffians?"

Kaya began to walk up to the captain, to attempt to appeal to him one last time. "Klahadore, don't you remember all the times we shared? All the memories? You took care of me for three years, please, be the man that was so kind to me for so long!" she cried, grabbing him by the arm.

Kuro was silent as he looked down, memories overwhelming him for a moment. "All those years…I took care of you. We went shopping, fishing, swimming…" he murmured, as he began to smile and look at Kaya.

The girl took his smile as a sign of placation, and too began to smile through tears. Suddenly, however, with a motion of Kuro's arm, she was thrown backwards, and slammed into a tree.

"I hated it!" Kuro said cruelly. "Can you imagine, me, _Hyakkei no Kuro _(Kuro of a Thousand Plans), one of the most terrifying men in all of EAST BLUE!" the last words were roared in rage, as Kaya cowered in terror.

"Can you imagine?" Kuro continued, working himself up into a fever pitch. "Relegated to the role of _nanny _for some stuck-up, whiny, annoying little KID! There was a time that when a ship saw my flag they would _surrender _rather than face me! And I was forced to babysit some spoiled brat!"

Calming down slightly, Kuro shook his head. "No, Ōjo…or rather, no, Kaya. I will have my pound of flesh for the indignities that I was forced to suffer through."

Turning to look back at Luffy, who was observing the situation with all the calm and collectedness as a bull who had just seen a red blanket, he smirked. "Shall we finish this?" he said, as he stomped the ground again, and disappeared.

Whirling around in primal rage, Luffy then did something that Kuro never saw coming.

"**Hakai no Yubi (Finger of Destruction)!" **he screamed, as he began to spin around, faster and faster. A tornado began to form around him, and Nami watched in baited breath for the second part of the move that she thought that she was seeing…which never came, for some reason. Instead of grabbing the tornado and using it as a drill, the boy simply continued spinning in place, as the tornado grew more and more powerful, beginning to pick up objects in its vicinity.

"Now would be a good time to loot the pirates' ship…" Nami whispered to herself. "Plus, we can get Kaya out of harms way…" Sneaking up to Kaya, the girl gently shook her by the shoulder. Kaya began to shout, but Nami slammed her hand over the other girl's mouth, and shook her head silently, before beckoning.

* * *

Meanwhile, the tornado grew and grew in size, until it was larger than your average twister, now seeming closer in magnitude to the finger of God.

Everything around was being pulled into the natural disaster, and even Kuro was having a hard time avoiding it, being forced to continue moving constantly, because stopping his momentum even for a second would let the calamity suck him. Unfortunately for the pirate captain, he lost control of his **Nuki Ashi (Stealth Foot) **at just the wrong moment, and accidentally ran straight towards the spiraling storm.

Caught up in it, Kuro tried desperately to attempt to reach the eye of the storm, where he knew the controller would be, but before he could manage, the tornado suddenly expanded, throwing him clear across the beach, and slamming him into a tree again, as well as releasing all of the members of the Black Cat Pirate crew, who had been ripped from their earthly tethers by the force of the storm. Groaning in pain, Kuro attempted to lift his head, as he felt that more than a few of important had been broken because of his unexpected contact with the tree.

It was not to be.

The second that Kuro managed to lift his head, he was confronted with the sight of an enraged Luffy, a ball of pure electrical glowing blue in his hand.

"**Kaminari…kyū (Thunder Ball)!"** Luffy roared bestially, as he rammed the ball straight into Kuro's chest. The villain moved no more.

Standing up, Luffy gazed scornfully at the members of Kuro's pirate crew.

"All of you…" he muttered, pointing in the general direction of the Black Cat Pirates, who cowered in terror, thinking that they were next. "Take him…" he continued, moving his hand to now point at the unconscious Kuro. "And GET OUT OF HERE!" He roared the last part.

The pirates scrambled to fulfill his order, just as Nami came back, laden with the ill-gotten treasures of the successful pirates.

"And!" Luffy yelled suddenly, as he stood up straight and gazed at the pirates. "If anyone ever asks you who defeated you! Tell them my name!" he pointed at himself with his thumb. "I am Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!"

**Aaaaaaaand, that's a wrap. A bit longer than my usual chapters, coming out at about 9000 words, but I figured that since I made you wait, you deserved a longer-than-average chapter, eh?**

**Anyway, once again, sorry for making you wait. Next chapter we will wrap up Syrup Village, and move on to Baratie!**


End file.
